HIRO
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: When Tadashi makes a psychological companion robot, HIRO, to help him deal with the PTSD of the car accident that took his parents' lives as a child, he has no idea just how much the little boy is going to change his life. (Robot Hiro AU; Toddler Hiro; Fred/Tadashi Fredashi)
1. Chapter 1

_Okay, this is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the… One hundred and fourteenth test of my robotics project, H.I.R.O. Baymax, you filming this?_

 _Of course, Tadashi. You have instructed me to film all of the tests of your projects._

 _I know, and thanks for helping me out, buddy. Okay, ready for this?_

 _Were there specific preparations that I was supposed to make for this test?_

 _No, no, it's just an expression! All right, enough with the introduction. Let's do this._

Tadashi lets out a slightly shaky breath as he goes to turn on his latest invention, H.I.R.O (short for Healing-Interfacing Robot Operating system.) This was definitely one of the most difficult projects he'd ever worked on. It wasn't that this robot was trying to be difficult-if anything, it seemed extremely eager to please. Maybe a little too eager, actually. Still, while it was fully functional in almost every aspect of its design, it just wasn't… connecting like Tadashi wanted it to. The way it needed to if it was going to serve its intended purpose. When he'd designed Baymax almost five years ago, his major focus had been on creating a robot who could help take care of the physical needs of its patients, and he had more than accomplished his goal-by age twenty, his invention had been picked up by one of the biggest technological firms in the country, Krei Tech, and by age twenty-one almost every hospital in the world had at least one of the robots on staff, many of them recruiting a whole team of the robots specializing in different branches of the medical field. Tadashi had pretty much become an overnight success, and while he could have comfortably lived off the royalties for the rest of his life, he was too active of a person to feel comfortable doing that.

Of course he was forever looking for ways to improve Baymax's design, but Krei Tech had, to an extent, taken over updating and making Baymax work better, so most of what he did was just tinkering on his original model. Feeling the need for a creative outlet, he'd spent a good couple months wracking his brains trying to come up with something that might top his last invention and, better yet, help humanity in a new way (because, at the end of the day, that's why Tadashi invented things-to help others.) Eventually he came to the conclusion that, while he had made a lot of headway in helping treat people's physical needs, the area of mental and emotional needs was something he'd barely touched. Yes, Baymax had the ability to help people with both of these areas (his own one had become something of a friend and a counselor for him, especially when it came to the unpleasant memories and trauma dreams Tadashi still sometimes had from his childhood of the fatal car crash that had claimed the life of his parents and left him trapped for three hours in the back seat while rescue workers had tried to free him.) But that wasn't its primary purpose.

Tadashi wasn't going to try to create a robotic psychiatrist or counselor-as much as he wished he could do that, he knew that such fields were very specialized and each patient was so unique that a robot would be hard pressed to properly diagnose them when even human doctors struggled to do that very same thing, let alone prescribe and provide the correct medicine and therapy. So he focused on something smaller and more manageable. He knew that sometimes trauma victims or people in need of psychological or emotional support were assigned service or therapy animals who were trained to recognize their symptoms and do whatever it took to make sure that they stayed in a psychologically or emotionally safe state. It was amazing how much these animals could do to help people. However, the training it took for an animal to be able to certified to properly do this was extensive, and of the animals actually trained not all of them were accepted, so there weren't enough for everyone who had need of one of these animals to be able to have one placed with them. Beyond that, some people who could benefit from a service animal's help never applied because they felt that they didn't actually need help or else didn't want to take the animal away from someone who was more "deserving" of the help (Heaven knew how many times Baymax had suggested Tadashi might apply for one if he wouldn't go to actually therapy for the PTSD he believed he suffered from, but Tadashi had always argued that there was surely someone out there who needed the service animals that were available more than he did.) So what could be done to remedy this problem?

Maybe, just maybe, a robot substitute-something that could be mass produced and made available to the general public-would make it possible for more people to get help they needed, and maybe people would be more willing to accept the help if it was something being widely used and they didn't have to feel guilty about "taking help away from someone more deserving." The idea was fairly sound-it would take a lot of hard work, but Tadashi was confident that he could come up with something that would be as successful as Baymax. But once he had the idea of a psychological and emotional helper/companion in his mind, he hit yet another roadblock: What form should this new type of robot take?

Initially he thought of using the model of therapy animals-robotic dogs, cats, or other creatures who were used to help patients. However, one downside of animals, as sweet as they were, was that when you talked to them they couldn't respond-at least not in the language of the speaker. Tadashi then considered a human model or a robot like Baymax, but the problem was that, while some response was good, often times people just needed to talk and receive sympathy or empathy without a whole lot of feedback, so a robot that was too talkative wasn't a good idea either. It was a conundrum, and not one Tadashi was sure how to fix.

It was actually been while visiting a park near his workshop for some fresh air to clear his head that he'd finally found his inspiration.

Tadashi had grown up an only child, raised by his aunt after the car crash, so he'd never known what it was like to have a younger sibling. He'd often dreamed about what it would be like have a brother or a sister, but given Aunt Cass, his father's only sister, had stayed single all through his growing up years, he'd never so much as had a cousin to play with (and, being an introvert and on the shy side, he'd never really had the courage to make a lot of friends during his elementary school years.) Still, when he'd reached high school and a family friend asked him if he'd be interested in babysitting their twin sons on Friday nights once or twice a month, he quickly learned that he not only had a knack for taking care of kids, but he absolutely loved spending time with them. Something about their innocence and wonder was so refreshing in a world that was often so cynical and dark, and their vast imaginations never failed to astound him.

Maybe the reason he got along so well with them was because he was still kind of a kid himself-he'd never lost his sense of imagination and he still always tried to see the best in the world around him. To this day Tadashi still loved kids, and, while he wasn't exactly ready to have any of his own just yet, seeing them playing or just being their own adorable selves was always enough to make his day. That was probably why, when he'd paused to watch a group of kiddos playing on the playground (from a safe distance so hopefully none of the parents would see him and think he was being a stalker-it sucked that they'd think that when his intentions were nothing but pure, but he understood why they had to be so careful) and felt his anxiety and frustration lifting just from watching their adorable antics, he'd finally found the solution to his problem.

Animals couldn't talk, and while a talking animal robot was plausible it didn't seem authentic. A mature, adult robot, even one as friendly as Baymax, might seem unapproachable to a lot of people. But kids-kids, especially the young ones, were just so sweet and innocent that it was hard not to open up to them, and they were wonderful listeners (it was amazing the things that could hold their attention for extended periods of time!) while giving responses that were genuine, sweet, and often even amusing. So why not make the robot companion in the form of a young child, put it through trial runs, and see how well it worked? Tadashi had nothing but time and resources on his hands-if it didn't work, he could try another design. Worst to the worst, he'd have an adorable prototype on his hands that might be like the younger sibling he'd never had.

So that's what he was doing here today-after almost a year of hard work and development, he had a working first model of H.I.R.O. The plan was that the basic program would be able to be used in many different robot bodies, although all would share a similar base for the sake of ease of development-Tadashi liked the idea of the robots being able to be as diverse in appearance as the people they were helping, which was why for this first prototype he'd created a robot that was based somewhat off of what he'd looked like as a little kid but perhaps a bit more whimsical, with a floof of raven colored hair, wide brown eyes, and even an adorable tooth gap: the perfect little brother. Thanks to some collaboration with his friend, Honey Lemon, who was both a skilled chemist and well versed in fiber arts as an experimental seamstress (meaning she was forever inventing new types of fabric to use in her rather successful clothing line), he'd even managed to come up with a synthetic skin that covered the robot's carbon fiber skeleton so that the robot actually had a realistic and very huggable exterior (because, after all, hugs from adorable kids were just about the most therapeutic thing in the world.) All in all, if you didn't know any better when passing it on the street, you'd think that the small robot was any other five-year-old kid.

So up to this point, everything on this project was going perfectly-HIRO moved and spoke without glitching, and could even hold a conversation if spoken to. Anyone else would have considered the project a resounding success. But as much as Tadashi wanted to believe that this was the case, he couldn't. Not yet. As hard as he could tell HIRO was trying to fulfill its purpose and flawlessly follow the procedures that had programed into it, it just didn't seem… _real_ somehow. Tadashi wasn't feeling the emotional connection with it that he knew was critical to helping a patient recover. When HIRO spoke to him, it was more like a child reciting lines they had memorized than a genuine conversation. Tadashi had tried everything he could think of to fix this problem, working endlessly on the coding to try to see what he was missing. But eventually he came to the conclusion that HIRO was probably the same way as Baymax had been-it would just take time and interaction for the robot to learn what it meant to be "human", or the robot equivalent thereof. It was frustrating for Tadashi, who was something of a perfectionist and couldn't help but feel like maybe HIRO's lack of progress was due to something that he was doing wrong. Still, he wasn't one to give up easily, and that's why he hadn't scrapped the project one hundred and fourteen tests ago and why he was going to try again tonight to see if maybe the latest bit of coding he'd experimented with might have had some effect.

To activate the robot, he reaches out and gently squeezes its hand-it was a simple enough gesture, something anyone could do even when they were feeling at their lowest and didn't have the energy to talk, just to reach out for some physical reassurance and instantly receive the help they needed.

As soon as the robot registered the pressure on its activation button, its soft brown eyes blink open and a sweet smile forms on its lips.

"Hello, Tadashi!" it says cheerfully.

"Hi, Hiro," Tadashi answers, smiling back at it and trying not to feel too disappointed. He'd been trying to convince the robot to call him "Dashi" for a while now, but given "Tadashi" was the name officially designated in its coding for him it still doggedly stuck with his full name, not seeming to grasp the concept of nicknames yet. Oh well-it wasn't the best start, but he wasn't going to lose hope just yet.

"Are you okay?" Hiro prompts.

"Yeah, I'm fine-I just thought we could talk," Tadashi answers, trying to stay optimistic. So far it was just the same scripted lines, but maybe there would be some variation as they went further along.

"Okay!" Hiro agrees. "What about?"

As cute and chipper as ever, but still undeniably robotic, Tadashi mentally sighs. Still, Hiro was watching him expectantly and obviously doing its best to please and so the man answers, "Well, do you mind if I tell you about my day?" He hoped that maybe listening to his own speech patterns might eventually rub off on Hiro-he'd had some limited success with that so far, so it was pretty much the only thing he could think of.

"Okay!" Hiro answers, smiling expectantly up at him.

"Well, I went to visit Aunt Cass today," Tadashi tells him, thinking back over the events of the day.

"Is she okay?" Hiro asks.

"She's doing pretty good-still busy as ever, but she's hired on some new helpers and I think that's helping her," Tadashi tells him with a warm smile. "I still feel bad sometimes that I had to stop helping her in the shop after I moved out and really started focusing on my studies, but at least she's found some good replacements."

"She knows you love her!" Hiro reassures him.

"Yeah, I know," Tadashi answers, smiling slightly-even if it was just one of the many phrases of comfort Hiro had in his database, it was still oddly reassuring to hear him say it. "And it was nice spending time with her and just taking a break-I ended up making dinner for both of us and we watched a corny old monster movie together after that."

"That sounds fun!" Hiro beams up at him before asking, "Did you see Fred today?"

There was something Tadashi could be proud of right there-Hiro, on its own, had picked up on how much Tadashi talked about his boyfriend and, realizing that Fred was so important to him, had started asking about him whenever he and Tadashi had their conversations. It was one of the things that gave Tadashi hope that maybe Hiro was starting to actually tap into the AI (artificial intelligence) chip that was implanted in it that was supposed to give it the thought and speech patterns of a mature five-year-old instead of just relying on the scripted lines that it had been given to use during conversations (Tadashi had meant for that to be something that helped it start out instead of its sole means of communication, but to date the robot seemed reluctant to venture far from the sentences it knew were safe to use. Maybe, like a young child, it was afraid of trying to use new words and phrases for fear of making a mistake and being reprimanded for it. That was the last thing on Tadashi's mind, and he tried to convey to the robot that he was proud of it for any efforts it made, but so far he hadn't seemed to have convinced it.)

"No, I didn't see Fred today," Tadashi says in answer to Hiro's question. "But I did text him and we should be going to have a date tomorrow night!"

"That's good!" Hiro smiles up at him. "He makes you happy!"

"Yes, yes he does!" Tadashi agrees, unable to keep from grinning in excitement-Hiro was actually seeming to make some progress, it was using its own words to talk about Tadashi's feelings! Was this a bit of a breakthrough for it? To the engineer's disappointment, though, almost immediately Hiro went back to its scripted lines, asking simply,

"What else do you want to talk about?"

"I think that's it for tonight," Tadashi answers, trying not to sigh audibly. Every time he thought that Hiro was opening up to him, something like this would happen. Still, he'd learned not to try to push too much for more or else the little robot would shut down-sometimes literally. At least tonight it had shown some progress, and Tadashi knew he just had to keep trying and eventually Hiro would hopefully break out of its shell.

"I am satisfied with my care," he tells the little robot, giving it its cue so that it would know it could shut down-it was the same code phrase he used with Baymax, and he'd gotten so used to using it over the years that he couldn't really think of a reason to try to come up with something new when this one worked so well.

"Okay!" Hiro smiles up at him before returning to its charging station and powering down, it's eyelids sliding shut as if it was going to sleep.

"Was that a successful test, Tadashi?" Baymax asks once the other robot has turned off.

"It was… An improvement," Tadashi answers, pushing his bangs back off of his forehead to release some of the tension in his body before letting out a long breath and looking up at the robot. "Thanks for helping me with this, Baymax. You okay with doing another test same time tomorrow?"

"Of course," Baymax answers, blinking cheerfully. "I'm always happy to help."

"Thank you." Tadashi flashes him a grateful smile. "I am satisfied with my care, Baymax."

The nursebot nods before heading back to his own charging station and also powering down.

With both robots shut down for the night, Tadashi leans his head back as he slumps into his computer chair, shutting his eyes and willing all of the pent-up frustration and negative emotions inside of him to just go away. Usually he didn't feel this agitated after one of Hiro's tests, and if anything he would have been thrilled by the small bit of progress he'd seen. But today he'd already been a bit emotionally drained and so the sense of disappointment was greater than it probably normally would have been. Maybe he shouldn't have tried doing a test tonight knowing how he was feeling, but a small part of him had hoped that maybe talking to Hiro would help him feel better-and it had, to an extent, Hiro had definitely made him smile, but Tadashi couldn't help but feel cowardly for not admitting the whole truth to it and seeing if the robot could actually fulfill its purpose of helping him. It was true that he'd gone to Aunt Cass' today. What he had left out was that he'd been helping her clean out the attic and, while up there, had run into some old things that used to belong to his parents, including an old photo album with pictures of them. He'd thought that paging through the photographs might be good for him, but instead they just brought up the traumatic memories from the accident which were as vivid and fresh today as they'd been only days after they'd actually happened. Tadashi didn't know why they still affected him so badly after all this time, but they just did. Maybe if he'd gone to therapy when he was younger to deal with all these thoughts and feelings, things would have been different, but Aunt Cass hadn't been able to afford anything like that and, by the time he was might have been able to afford to pay to go himself, he was so used to just coping on his own as best he could that he didn't see the purpose of going, despite Baymax saying that he really should see a specialist. As it was, right now Tadashi honestly didn't feel like doing anything but sleeping off the dark feelings swirling around inside of him. He didn't even have the energy to get up out of his chair, so he just lays his head down on his desk, hoping that maybe when he woke up the emotions would have passed and he could start fresh the next day.

 _Hiro stood in his charger, eyes closed but still vaguely aware of what was going on in the room around him-it was part of his programming to be alert to his surroundings in case he was needed and had to activate on his own if someone couldn't come and actually turn him on. Still, everything was quiet now so he was left alone to his thoughts. Most humans thought that robots didn't think or feel anything when they were turned off, and maybe a lot of them didn't. But Hiro was smart-Tadashi, his maker, had made him smart-and so he couldn't help but think when he was fully charged and had all sorts of energy but nothing to do with himself. He wanted to be able to be left on for long periods of time, like he knew Baymax was-he wanted to be able to experience the world around him, and, more importantly, he wanted to spend time with Tadashi. He liked talking with his maker-he was always so nice and he smiled when he talked to him and made him feel special. He always told him how special he was. But for some reason it always felt like Tadashi thought he was doing something wrong. Hiro was trying to be good and do what his maker wanted-he said the things his code told him to say, and yet somehow the more he said those things the less happy Tadashi seemed. Sometimes Hiro said things that he wasn't coded to say-things that he thought of that he thought would make Tadashi smile-but he was scared to do it too much because he might say something wrong and Tadashi might be really mad at him. So he just kept saying the things he was supposed to say and he hoped maybe someday he'd be able to figure out what he was doing wrong._

 _Wanting to think about happier things, Hiro lets images of subjects that make him smile play through his mind's viewing screen-Tadashi had programmed him so that he knew a lot about the human world, and Hiro liked looking at the pictures he had in his memory banks of things he hadn't been able to actually see yet but he hoped someday he would be able to see-places like the zoo and the park and the children's museum. Hiro liked to imagine going to these places with Tadashi and seeing his maker smile at him because he was being good and making him happy. Someday he knew these dreams would come true, even if it wasn't today._

 _For a good hour or so, Hiro contentedly reviews his favorite images in the gentle silence of the room-he never got bored with them, no matter how many times he imagined them. But then suddenly the silence is broken by a sound. Surprised by the sudden noise, Hiro wonders if maker had woken up and was talking to himself or Baymax. But even though the noises sounded like his maker's voice, they weren't sounds like words or even the funny noises Tadashi sometimes made when he was thinking about something or working on a project. They sounded like sad noises-scared noises, even. That wasn't right-maker shouldn't be upset! It scared Hiro knowing that Tadashi was sad, and he wanted to help-he needed to help him! But he wasn't supposed to activate on his own, right? Hiro didn't know what to do-he wanted to help Tadashi, but would Tadashi be mad at him for doing something he wasn't supposed to do? For a minute Hiro is at war with himself, his fear of straying from his coding fighting with his desire to help his maker. But then he hears Tadashi crying out and his decision was made for him. Tadashi needed help, and he was going to help him, even if it meant getting in trouble!_

 _It was strange for Hiro to power himself on for the first time-he was used to Tadashi being there when he opened his eyes, telling him what to do. But he knew that he needed to help Tadashi, and so even though it was scary he carefully steps out of his charger and sets off to find his maker. It didn't take long to find him-Tadashi was sitting in his chair, looking sound asleep but seeming to be crying at the same time. How could he be sleeping and crying at the same time? Hiro wondered. He knew that he could sort through his memories and figure out what was causing his maker to be so upset, but right now he cared more about making Tadashi feel better than putting a name on the problem. Usually when someone was upset, Hiro's coding told him to talk to them so they would feel better. But Tadashi was asleep, so how could he talk to him? Hiro wasn't sure what else he could do-Maker had never told him what to do if someone was asleep when they were upset! Without coding or instructions from Tadashi, Hiro felt terribly alone and afraid. Maker had always said that he'd be able to figure out what to do if he was ever in a place where he didn't know what he was supposed to do, but how was he supposed to figure it out? He just wanted to make Tadashi happy again!_

 _And then suddenly images start coming into Hiro's mind. In his memory banks, Tadashi had given Hiro lots of examples of how humans interacted with each other, including comforting each other. Hiro had never really tried any of these things because he didn't want to do them wrong and make Tadashi upset. But Tadashi was already so upset, he couldn't make things worse by trying one of them, right? There were so many forms of comfort humans used, and Hiro had no idea which one he was supposed to choose. He anxiously tries to decide which one to try, but it was hard. Then finally he sees a picture-a picture of a man who kind of looked like Tadashi and a little boy. The little boy was wrapping his arms around the man in a hug, and the man was smiling, as if the boy hugging him was making him happy. Was that was Hiro was supposed to do? Would a hug make Tadashi happy? Hiro wasn't sure, but it was worth trying, at least._

 _Still feeling a bit scared but determined to do his best, Hiro bravely walks up to Tadashi, who was still fitfully sleeping. After another moment of trepidation, the little robot carefully climbs up onto the chair so that he could be close enough to Tadashi to actually hug him. He'd never done this before, so he wasn't sure how this was supposed to work, but all the same Hiro carefully wraps his arms around the man's torso, hoping that he was doing it right. Then, looking up and seeing the tears that were still rolling Tadashi's cheeks, the robot finds himself saying softly, despite it not being something he'd ever been coded to say, "Don't cry, Dashi. Please don't cry."_

 _It was one of the few times Hiro had ever allowed himself to actually voice the thoughts in his head instead of just repeating his coded phrases. And somehow, whether it was the words or the hug or both that actually helped, Tadashi actually stops crying. He doesn't seem to wake up, but he wraps his arms around Hiro and pulls him close, a small smile actually appearing on his lips, as if somehow just having the robot there made him feel better. Something warm glowed inside Hiro's chest as he realizes what he had done-he had made Tadashi happy. He had made Tadashi happy when he was sad and had needed him! Beaming, the little robot happily nuzzles up against his maker-his Dashi. He had made Tadashi happy by doing something that wasn't a part of his coding. He had finally found a way to make him proud of him! Maybe Hiro was still a bit scared to try doing things that weren't a part of his coding, but if they made Dashi happy then he would try as many new things as he could! And for right now, he'd enjoy just getting to be with Tadashi like this, because being so close to his Dashi and making him smile was the thing he wanted most in the world._


	2. Chapter 2

Tadashi awoke the next day to sunshine streaming in through the windows of his lab. He blinks in the unexpected brightness, wondering how it had gotten light out so quickly only to realize that he must have fallen asleep while working again. Baymax said that it wasn't good for his posture for him to sleep at his desk like this, and honestly Tadashi usually woke up pretty sore from it so he tried to avoid it when he could, but he'd just felt so crappy last night that he hadn't had the energy to actually go to his own bedroom. As it was, from the vague bits he remembered, he'd had some pretty bad nightmares last night-ah, the joys of ptsd. It sucked because he knew that once they started, they usually lasted for at least a week, a million variations of the traumatic car accident, some that didn't even make sense but that left him waking up feeling like he'd just relived his parents' death all over again in vivid detail. Not even the homeopathic cures for bad dreams that Baymax had been researching for him (drops of vanilla on his pillowcase, an eye mask with sweet smelling herbs that were supposed to help with relaxation) had helped, and when he woke up he felt like he'd hadn't even slept at all, but going back to sleep meant more nightmares-sleep was supposed to be the body's natural painkiller, a source of escape when the body and mind needed to mend. And yet when the ptsd hit at its worst, even sleep wasn't a relief-if anything, it just made things just that much worse. It was a completely fucked up cycle that left Tadashi feeling like the undead for days at a time, but it wasn't like that the rest of the world cared. Life kept going forward and he was expected to keep up with it, even when he felt like absolute shit.

Still, oddly enough, even with the nightmares he'd had last night, this morning Tadashi didn't feel as horrible as he usually did when he woke up from a night of ptsd dreams. Actually, for some odd reason, about halfway through the night, the dreams had kind of-altered. He'd dreamed that Hiro was in the car with him and had kept him safe while he waited for the rescue workers to get him out. It was an odd adjustment to his usual dreams, although he wasn't unused to having things in his normal life affecting what he'd dreamed about. Maybe since he'd been testing right before falling asleep, his subconscious had pulled Hiro in? As odd an addition as Hiro had been to the dream, somehow about having him there had actually made things less intense. Tadashi still felt seriously drained from it, but didn't feel as bad as he sometimes felt after going through one of them.

It wasn't until the engineer stretched and started to stand up, hoping that maybe some coffee would help him feel a bit better and actually have some energy to get through the day, that he became aware of the weight that was in his lap and resting up against his torso.

"What the hell?" he mutters, completely caught off guard and a more than a bit concerned by the fact that there was something or someone on him, only to look down and see-

"H-Hiro?" He stares down in utter shock at the small robot curled up against him, its eyes shut as if asleep, looking honestly so much like an adorable child that Tadashi just wanted to snuggle him close and never let him go. But before he could let himself get carried away by the moment, he forces himself to stop and actually think about this-what was Hiro doing here, in his lap, when the last place he'd seen him was in his charger last night? A small part of his brain suggests that maybe he had started sleepwalking and had gone and picked Hiro up for comfort during the night and brought him back to his chair with him, but he'd never actually sleepwalked to his knowledge so he couldn't believe that was the case. So his only other option was that Hiro had somehow activated and come to him. But why had Hiro activated? And how? After turning the idea over in his head for a few minutes, Tadashi finally came to the conclusion that he must have been showing signs of distress during his nightmares during the night and Hiro, as a psychological and emotional care robot, must have come to investigate. But that didn't fully explain things-Hiro had never activated before even when Tadashi had been under psychological or emotional distress, so why had he done so last night? And why, of all things, had he chosen to crawl up into Tadashi's lap and cuddle with him instead of trying to just talk to him until he woke up like his coding probably had told him to do? (To date Tadashi hadn't thought to create a protocol for nightmares, although that was probably something he needed to work on.) There were so many unanswered questions, and Tadashi knew that the only way he would ever get answers was probably to wake the sleeping robot up and ask him to explain his choice of actions. Still, Hiro looked so adorable and peaceful just lying there… Tadashi wasn't sure he could bring himself to disturb him. Maybe just cuddling with him for a little bit couldn't hurt...

Almost instinctively, Tadashi pulls the tiny boy against his chest, gently nuzzling into his soft raven hair. In the back of his mind he knew that Hiro wasn't a real toddler so he shouldn't be feeling like this, but for some reason, whether because of what the robot had apparently done last night or maybe something else entirely, this morning his creation just seemed… real, somehow. Almost as if he was the little brother Tadashi had been dreaming about all these years.

The man honestly didn't know how long he would have stayed like that, just hugging the adorable robot, if the tiny form in his arms hadn't eventually started moving, as if registering the fact that he was awake now. The engineer carefully pulls away so that he could actually see what was happening, not sure exactly what to expect after the first surprise he'd received that morning.

Hiro seemed to be coming out of his power save mode (something he could do to conserve energy if he felt his patient wasn't currently in need of his services but wanted to remain active enough to be able to quickly turn back on if he was needed again) as he blinks his large brown eyes open, a sleepy expression on his face. (Another feature Tadashi had come up with-to make Hiro seem more natural, when he powered on or was low on power, he acted in the same way a child would when waking up or tired-a big improvement over Baymax's almost drunken state when he needed his battery charged.)

The little boy seemed momentarily disoriented as he looks around the room, but then he looks up at the older man and flashes him a sweet, slightly eager smile. "Dashi!" he cries. "Did you sleep okay?"

"I-" Tadashi automatically starts to answer, only to freeze when the robot's words set in. "W-Wait-Did you just call me Dashi?"

"Yes?" Hiro answers shyly. "You told me to call you Dashi… Is that okay?"

"Okay? That is more than okay!" Tadashi answers, slightly floored by the robot's response but grinning all the same. Hiro was not only finally using his nickname, but he was actually talking to him-talking using his own words, not just the coded phrases he'd stuck to until now! Tadashi honestly had no idea what what exactly had triggered this sudden change, but he wasn't about to discourage it!

"Good!" Hiro gives him a grateful smile before asking again, "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, I slept fine!" Tadashi reassures him.

"But you were crying," Hiro says, a small frown on his face. "You were crying while you were sleeping… And I didn't know what to do."

Well, that confirmed Tadashi's suspicions-the robot definitely had heard him having nightmares and come to check on him. He was still slightly in shock that his creation had acted on its own in order to provide him aide, and even moreso by what both that and the conversation he and the little boy were currently having potentially signified (for once, Hiro seemed to be speaking using his own words instead of just the coded phrases he usually used, a huge step forward for him-an astounding one, even!) Still, for the sake of clarification, he asks gently, "Did you climb up in my lap to try help me feel better?"

"Yes," Hiro answers hesitantly. "Is that okay?"

"It's more than okay!" Tadashi answers, beaming down at him. "You did an incredible job! You didn't know what to do, and you still tried to help me! That's amazing, Hiro!"

Hiro flashes him a happy grin, seeming pleased by the praise. "Are you feeling better now?" he presses.

"Yes, I feel a lot better," Tadashi reassures him, gently cuddling him close, still in awe of this latest development but feeling incredibly grateful for it all the same-Hiro was finally connecting! He was finally using his own words and showing emotions! Apparently something about seeing his maker so upset had finally jarred some kind of response out of him, and while Tadashi hated that either of them had had to go through that, he couldn't deny that the results were nothing short of amazing. Hiro honestly seemed really happy too-he was contentedly nuzzling against Tadashi's chest, a practically blissful smile on his tiny face, as if somehow seeing his maker so happy was making him happy too. The man was just about to congratulate the little boy on a job well done (after all, even robots needed praise and love, and far be it from Tadashi to make one of his creations feel neglected if he could help it) when suddenly a slightly panicked look crosses the little boy's face,

"Dashi, please don't turn me off!" the robot quietly begs, his tiny hands curling in the fabric of his maker's shirt, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Turn you off?" Tadashi asks, frowning in confusion.

"I-I did good-I made you happy, so you don't have to turn me off!" Hiro answers, his soft voice almost a whimper.

"Why would you think that I wanted to- Oh, Hiro!" Tadashi feels understanding dawning in his mind. "Do you not like being turned off?"

Hiro doesn't verbally answer, but he shakes his head in response, his wide eyes answering for him.

"Hiro, I'm so sorry!" Tadashi apologizes, wrapping his arms tighter around the little boy. "I thought it was good for you to get some rest while I was working on you, I didn't realize- Why didn't you tell me it upset you so much?"

"I'm not very good at talking," Hiro answers, ducking his head slightly. "And I wanted to make you happy…"

"Hiro, you are doing just fine with talking!" Tadashi tells him firmly. "And you don't have to worry about making me happy, you just need to let me know if something's making you unhappy because I don't ever want to do something that makes you upset or hurts you, okay?"

The truth was, as much as he hated to admit it, deep down Tadashi knew he probably had realized that Hiro didn't enjoy only being on for a small part of the day and being stuck on his charger for the rest of the time. Baymax didn't complain about being on his charger for extended periods of time, but the nursebot was designed for healthcare and wasn't particularly emotion-centered. Hiro, though, was designed to be an emotional companion, and Tadashi had designed him to have feelings and emotions. Of course the man hadn't intentionally been trying to hurt the little robot in any way-he would never want to hurt anyone, especially not one of his own creations. It was just easier not to think about the difficulties he'd been having with Hiro without him being on as a constant reminder. Maybe if he'd been more patient, if he'd left the robot on, Hiro would have learned faster from constant exposure to language and it wouldn't have taken this long for him to reach this point….

Still, there wasn't anything Tadashi could do to change the past, and the best thing he could do was to focus on how he could change the future, starting with honoring Hiro's request.

Apparently his answer to what the tiny robot had said was exactly what Hiro had needed to hear, because the little boy beams up at him before happily nuzzling against his chest. "So I get to spend time with you?" he says hopefully.

"We can spend as much time together as you want!" Tadashi promises. Again, he knew that technically Hiro was just a machine, but, if Baymax was any example, he knew just how much of real people robots could become, and somehow, in just the brief span of their conversation so far this morning, he could already feel his heart being wrapped around Hiro's tiny little finger.

"Yay!" Hiro beams up at him, his adorable brown eyes sparkling with happiness before going wide as he suddenly hears Tadashi's stomach growling. "What was that? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh, I'm fine!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him, trying not to laugh at how adorably startled the little boy looked. "That just means I'm hungry, bud."

"Hungry?" Hiro repeats, frowning for a moment in concentration before recognition dawns on his face. "You need food!"

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, playfully ruffling his hair.

"Should I find you food?" Hiro asks, obviously wanting to help.

"Aw, that's sweet of you to offer, but I'll be okay finding food for myself!" Tadashi chuckles before pausing and saying thoughtfully, "Actually… I think maybe this morning calls for a celebration!"

"Celebration?" Hiro repeats, looking both a bit nervous and excited.

"Yep!" Tadashi grins down at him. "How would you feel like going on a little trip to the Lucky Cat Cafe?"

Hiro's wide eyed look said it all. "I get to go outside?" he asks eagerly.

"If you think you're up to it!" Tadashi answers.

"Yes!" Hiro reassures him. "Yes, yes please!"  
"Okay then, I think that's settled!" Tadashi chuckles warmly.

"I get to see Aunt Cass?" Hiro says hopefully.

"Yeah, you can totally meet her!" Tadashi replies, realizing that this was actually a pretty big step for both of them-as a perfectionist, Tadashi usually didn't let anyone know what he was working on, let alone let them see it, until he considered it ready to be shown to the world. It wasn't that his family and friends hadn't been trying to pester him into spilling what his latest project was, but he'd managed to keep a pretty tight lid on it so far. By taking Hiro out to the Cafe, was he saying that he thought his latest creation was actually ready?

After looking down into the little boy's eager eyes, he knew without a doubt that he absolutely was.

It took Tadashi about half an hour to actually get ready for the day after that-he was honestly in need of a shower after spending the night in his office and he wanted to dress for confidence since he was about to finally introduce the world to his newest creation and he was feeling a bit nervous about it (despite the fact that logically he knew that he had nothing to fear.) Hiro adorably wanted to help in any way that he could, but Tadashi reassured him that no help was needed in this current situation and so the little boy nestled into the covers on his bed to wait for him to finish. Every time Tadashi passed by him, he couldn't help but feel a warm glow in his chest-it was ridiculous to feel so attached already, but, then again, he had been working on Hiro for over a year so maybe all of the residual affection that had been held back by frustration until now was finally hitting him and it was doing it all at once? It was possible. Whatever the cause, he was more than happy when he was finally ready for the day and had the little boy back in his arms.

"Can we go now?" Hiro asks hopefully as Tadashi scoops him up.

"Yes, we can go," Tadashi answers, unable to resist lovingly ruffling his hair-it was just so soft (the result of another collaboration with Honey Lemon-even though he'd never told her exactly what he was working on, she probably had some idea just from the types of materials he'd been requesting her help with) and the way it fluffed out all over the place like dandelion fuzz made playing with it irresistible.

"Yay!" Hiro beams eagerly up at him, obviously excited to start their first real adventure together.

Tadashi started to head for the door, only to stop as he realizes something-Hiro was up and running now, which was great, no question! But if he ever wanted HIRO robots to be able to take off, he needed to start keeping careful records of Hiro's progress and the type of medical effects that Tadashi was experiencing from spending time with him. As much as the inventor wished he could just have Baymax follow him and Hiro around taking recordings, he knew that it just wasn't practical, so he was going to have to find another way to keep records. If only there was a portable Baymax he could just bring with him…

Wait, maybe there was! Before working on HIRO, Tadashi had made a prototype for a miniature Baymax he had named "Minimax" that worked something like a tiny robotic personal trainer-it had Baymax's abilities to do full-body scans and make short recordings, and while it couldn't actually provide medical assistance it kept track of its owner's vital signs as well as calories consumed, amount of exercise completed in a day, and brain activity that could affect the owner's mood. Krei Tech hadn't taken him up on it at the time he'd presented it to them because apparently they already had a similar invention in the workings, but after putting so much effort into it Tadashi hadn't had the heart to throw Minimax out. And now he had a perfect use for the tiny robot-Minimax could keep track of how he and others reacted to being around Hiro as well as take short recordings of Hiro's interactions with others to keep track of how he progressed as a mental and emotional care companion!

Heading over to his dresser, Tadashi grabs the small robot from where it had unfortunately been gathering dust up 'til now (living with Baymax, he didn't really need another robot constantly giving him updates on the status of his health) and clips it onto his belt loop after turning it on and checking to make sure that it was up and operational.

"What's that?" Hiro asks curiously, looking down at the tiny robot.

"That's Minimax," Tadashi explains. He was about to explain that it would be helping keep track of how Hiro was doing, but, realizing that that might put unneeded stress on the little boy knowing that he was being observed, he just says simply, "He helps keep track of my vitals while I'm out and about and Baymax can't be with me."

"Oh, okay!" If Hiro could tell that Tadashi wasn't telling him the whole truth, he didn't call him out on it, just saying hopefully, "We can go now?"

"Yes," Tadashi answers, gently ruffling his hair. "We can go now."

"Yay!" Hiro beams up at him, apparently thrilled to be finally setting out on his own adventure. And, as Tadashi walks him down the front walk to where his car was waiting, the older man can't help but wonder what exactly the day had in store for them.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, we're here!" Tadashi says when they pull up in front of the cafe a little while later. The ride over had honestly been even more fun than he'd imagined-Hiro had basic knowledge about the world, but he was adorably fascinated and awed by everything around him. Every few seconds he was pointing to something that was honestly fairly ordinary to Tadashi but was something of a marvel to him or asking questions about something that he wasn't familiar with. His constant excitement and curiosity had kept Tadashi smiling all the way to the Cafe-he'd barely even had time to think about the nightmares he'd had. Heck, he could barely even remember what they'd been about since he wasn't constantly revisiting them and turning them over and over in his head like he usually did.

"Wow!" Hiro now stares out at the Cafe, seeming to eagerly be taking it in.

"You like it?" Tadashi asks with a warm smile as he gets out of the car and starts unbuckling the little boy (he didn't have a car seat for him-he was going to have to look into that just so he wouldn't get pulled over by the police who would think that Hiro was a real child, and for this morning he'd just had him sit in the back seat to be relatively safe.)

"It's looks really cool!" Hiro answers with a grin.

"Well, I think you're going to like the inside even more!" Tadashi informs him.

"Yay!" Hiro beams up at him, happily snuggling against the man's chest as Tadashi lifts him up into his arms. Maybe Hiro could walk on his own, but for some reason the engineer just couldn't put him down for longer than was necessary today, and the little boy definitely didn't seem to mind the attention.

"So, you ready to meet Aunt Cass?" Tadashi asks as he locks the car door before heading towards the door to the Cafe.

"Yes!" Hiro agrees, an adorably decided note in his voice. Still, as they get closer, he asks softly, "You think she'll like me?"

Tadashi couldn't help but note how the little boy seemed to slip into a less advanced, more toddler-ish way of speaking whenever he was scared or nervous about something. If this was something that had manifested itself in the toddler's design or was a natural part of the language-learning process for someone who was still relatively new to it he couldn't tell, but it was definitely something he would have to look into. Right now wasn't the time for that, though, so, logging the quandary away for future examination, he focuses on answering the robot's question.

"She is going to love you!" Tadashi declares.

"How do you know?" Hiro asks, still seeming nervous but brightening at the man's answer.

"Because you're amazing, and there's no way that someone couldn't love you!" Tadashi replies firmly.

Hiro beams at that, contentedly burrowing into the old man's chest, and they enter the Cafe like that.

"Hello!" Aunt Cass' voice greets them as they walk into the restaurant, the cat shaped chimes over the door announcing their presence. "I'll be right with you!" Things were fairly slow at the moment so it looked like she was manning the Cafe by herself, with maybe one or two helpers, so Tadashi knew that she was probably working on some orders in the back or starting to prep for the lunch rush.

"Take your time, Aunt Cass!" he calls back reassuringly, walking slowly as he makes his way up to the counter so that Hiro could take everything in.  
"Tadashi? Is that you?" Aunt Cass' voice takes on a note of surprise. "What are you doing back here? I thought we weren't getting together for dinner again until next week!"

"I know!" Tadashi answers, trying to keep from sounding too amused or excited and give anything away. "But I kind of have a surprise for you!"

"A surprise?" Aunt Cass steps out from the storage room to the space behind the counter, pushing her slightly greying chestnut colored hair out of her face. "What kind of-" She trails off, not completing her question, as her gaze settles on her nephew, her eyes going wide as she spots the little boy in his arms. "T-Tadashi, who-?"

"Aunt Cass, I'd like you to meet Hiro," Tadashi smoothly cuts in, trying to keep from grinning too much. "Hiro, I'd like you to meet Aunt Cass!"

"Hi…" Hiro flashes her a shy smile before looking up at Tadashi for confirmation that he was doing the right thing.

"It's okay," the man gently reassures him. "You can talk to her like you talk to me-no one's going to laugh at you, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, not seeming fully convinced but wanting to please his maker all the same.

"Who is he?" Aunt Cass as softly she comes closer to examine the little boy, obviously already falling for him like Tadashi had done but also concerned about why her young, single nephew was bringing an unknown child with a striking resemblance to himself into the Cafe.

"This is Hiro." Tadashi repeats the name before adding the more vital information, "He's the new project I've been working on all this time."

"P-Project?" Aunt Cass seemed both relieved to find out that her nephew hadn't had a secret son out of wedlock and also stunned to discover the truth about the little boy. "S-So he's a-?"

"I'm a helping robot!" Hiro states proudly. "A Healing-Interfacing Robot Operating System-H.I.R.O!"

"He's kind of like Baymax, but his purpose is to help patients with their emotional and psychological health," Tadashi explains.

"H-He looks so real!" Aunt Cass marvels, still slightly shell-shocked.

"That's kind of the idea," Tadashi chuckles. "He's supposed to be a companion, sort of like a service animal, for people who need a more constant type of support in their own home for… various needs"

If Aunt Cass made the connection between the robot's purpose and her nephew's PTSD, she didn't show it. (Tadashi had tried to keep it from her as much as he could as he'd gotten older, not wanting to worry her, but it was impossible for her to not notice some of the symptoms over the years, even if she'd never been able to afford to send him to a doctor to get him the type of long term help that he needed.) Instead, keeping a bright smile on her face, she says, "Tadashi, that's wonderful! I'm sure he's going to help just as many people as Baymax, if not more!"

"Here's hoping!" Tadashi flashes her a grateful smile before asking, "Do you want to hold him?"

"Oh, could I?" Aunt Cass asks hopefully-it was obvious that she was dying to, although she hadn't wanted to ask without knowing that it was allowed.

"Of course!" Tadashi responds. "Hiro, you'd be okay with Aunt Cass holding you, right?"

Hiro looks momentarily nervous but then nods in response.

"Okay, here you go." Tadashi carefully transfers the little boy's weight from his own arms to Aunt Cass'. The older woman seemed to be struggling to compensate for the extra weight for a moment (despite being made out of the lightest materials Tadashi could find that would be durable enough for long term use, he was just as heavy as any other toddler, if not even heavier), but she quickly finds her balance and cradles the child close to her chest.

"He's so cute!" Aunt Cass coos, beaming down at the child.

"Cute?" Hiro glances over at Tadashi, apparently not sure of what to make of that.

"It's a compliment, bud," Tadashi reassures him.

"Oh. Okay then! Thank you!" Hiro smiles up at Aunt Cass.

"You're welcome!" Aunt Cass answers with a warm smile. "Goodness, you're certainly polite!"

"Tadashi made me to be polite," Hiro answers, seeming pleased by the praise.

"Well, he did a good job of it!" Aunt Cass declares, flashing her nephew a warm smile.

"Thanks." Tadashi grins at her, just wondering if he should explain more of how Hiro worked when suddenly his stomach growls loudly again-he'd almost forgotten about the other reason he'd come here.

"Oh!" Hiro's eyes go wide, also apparently remembering. "Tadashi's hungry!" he tells Aunt Cass in an adorably serious voice, as if making sure that the man ate was something of vital importance-which, to him, it probably was.

"Yes, I can tell!" Aunt Cass chuckles, seeming to be fighting a laugh. "Well, we'll just have to take care of that, won't we?"

"Yeah!" Hiro agrees enthusiastically. "We have to take care of Dashi!"

"We certainly do, since he doesn't always seem to do such a great job of taking care of himself," Aunt Cass agrees with a wry smile, gently shifting Hiro to her hip as she heads over towards the fridge. "What are you hungry for, sweetheart?"

"You don't have to make me breakfast!" Tadashi protests, feeling kind of bad for forcing his aunt into this now, but also having the feeling that between her and Hiro he knew that he was probably fighting a losing battle.

"Nonsense!" Aunt Cass waves off his concerns. "Are pancakes all right?"

"Yes, pancakes actually sound wonderful," Tadashi finally concedes.

"Good!" Aunt Cass smiles a bit victoriously before turning to Hiro and asking, "Do those sound good to y-Oh, that's right, you probably can't eat, can you, sweetie?"

"Well, he can't eat full meals, but I did make him with taste sensors and a small stomach that breaks down food into energy for him," Tadashi explains on the robot's behalf. "It's not a good idea to give him too much food, it might overload his system, but I know that cooking and sharing food with others is a bonding experience humans have so I thought it was probably a good idea to make sure that HIRO's could enjoy food with their companions."

"That is a very wise observation on your part!" Aunt Cass says with a grin.

"It was actually how you'd always cook food to make me feel better when I was little and how it always made you smile when I told you how much I loved it that inspired me," Tadashi tells her.

"Oh my gosh, Tadashi, sweetie!" Aunt Cass was practically beaming. "I'm honored!"

"You should be-you were the best adopted mom figure I could ever ask for," Tadashi answers.

Aunt Cass actually beamed at that, not really saying anything in response but happily humming to herself as she starts to work on the pancakes, letting Hiro "help" her when he asks and overall seeming to be in a wonderful mood. Tadashi, for his part, checks Minimax to see if he'd recorded Aunt Cass' reactions to being with Hiro at all, and it looked like her neurotransmitter levels were definitely raised-obviously spending time with the robot was already helping her mood. Of course it could be argued that Tadashi was affecting how she was feeling as well, but Hiro was the reason he'd come here today, and he'd had a marked effect on how he was feeling as well. It was amazing, honestly, just how much Hiro was already helping them just by slightly altering their schedules and participating in their conversations.

About fifteen minutes the pancakes were ready, and Tadashi helps settle Hiro into one of the kitchen chairs while Aunt Cass puts plates in front of both of them (the pancakes for the robot were about the size of quarters, just small bits of batter, but still undeniably light and fluffy like all of the pastries the chef made.)

"Enjoy, you two!" she says warmly before stepping back, obviously eager to see their reactions.

"Thanks, Aunt Cass!" Tadashi tells her gratefully.

"Thank you!" Hiro echoes happily before looking down at the food in front of him with curiosity.

"Need some help?" Tadashi offers with a slight smile, realizing that the robot had never used a fork or even eaten before.

"Yes please," Hiro agrees gratefully.

"Here." Tadashi comes over to him and gently helps move his hands into the right positions. "Like this. You just get the food onto the fork and then put it in your mouth and chew."

"Mm." Hiro nods, an expression of concentration on his face as he follows the older man's directions, seeming extremely pleased with himself as he gets the food into his mouth. Then his eyes go wide and he lets out a happy noise as the taste of the pancakes registers on his sensors.

"Swallow," Tadashi gently prompts him, knowing that proper food eating etiquette probably needed to be established early on.

Hiro obligingly does so before finally opening his mouth to say, "It's so good, Aunt Cass!"

"You really think so?" Aunt Cass asks, seeming thrilled by the praise.

"Yes!" Hiro answers, grinning his adorable gap-toothed smile back at her. "You must be the best cook in the whole world!"

"Oh, I don't know about that, but thank you!" Aunt Cass answers, cheeks turning pink with pleasure.

"No, no, I agree with him!" Tadashi replies with a grin, content enough that Hiro was doing alright with eating to return to his own pancakes.

"You two are just trying to butter me up, aren't you?" Aunt Cass laughs.

"If we are, it's only because you deserve it!" Tadashi tells her firmly.

"Aw!" Aunt Cass was losing the battle to keep a grin off of her face. "Well, I'd better go out and check on my customers, but I'll be back soon. Just come find me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay, we will," Tadashi promises her as she heads out the door.

"Dashi, you should be eating!" Hiro reminds the man after she leaves. "You're hungry, you need to eat your food!"

"I am, I am!" Tadashi laughs-it was almost like having another Aunt Cass around (and maybe, intended or not, a bit of her had actually gotten into the robot's programming.)

As soon as he was finished with his own food and Hiro was satisfied that Tadashi was actually eating properly (the man couldn't help but get distracted watching him with how seamlessly the robot was adapting to yet another facet of human life and kept forgetting to keep working on his own pancakes), the little boy climbs down off of his own chair and crawls up into his maker's lap, picking up the abandoned fork and attempting to feed Tadashi like a caretaker might try to feed a stubborn patient. It was so sweet that the man finally forces himself to focus on eating again, just so Hiro would stop looking so concerned. Aunt Cass came back in to find them like that, and she seemed to be fighting yet another smile as she watched the two of them.

"So, what are you two up to from here?" she asks curiously. "Are you on your way to a project meeting with Krei Tech?"

"No, Krei Tech doesn't even know about Hiro yet, and I'd actually like to keep it that way for a little bit," Tadashi answers her, carefully standing up and directing her over to another part of the kitchen after swallowing the last bite of his pancakes that Hiro was insisting he ate and settling the robot down into his own chair again. He still didn't want Hiro to start getting self conscious by hearing about how he was in the testing phase right now, so it was probably for the best that they didn't have this conversation where the robot could hear it.

"Now that he's up and operational, I want to run him through some tests and do some research on how he's doing before actually presenting him to the company," Tadashi continues in a quiet voice.

"What kinds of tests?" Aunt Cass asks, apparently catching on to the fact that her nephew didn't want this conversation to be heard by Hiro and keeping her voice low accordingly.

"Well, since he's an emotional companion and his patient is me, I'm going to keep records to see how my mood and overall psychological health are affected by having him spending time with me in my everyday life," Tadashi explains. "I'll probably also take him out to different places and see how he affects people other than me who he spends time with-maybe even visit places like nursing homes or hospitals to see how he interacts with people who might be future HIRO patients."

"That makes sense," Aunt Cass agrees with a nod. "You want to do your research before taking things to the next level."

"Exactly!" Tadashi agrees, glad that she understood (after all, she had been there during the stage when he'd put Baymax through countless tests before deciding that he was ready to show the world.) Then he tentatively asks, "Do you mind if I bring Hiro by here when I visit so I can see how he's affecting your mood when you're together? If you don't want to be a part of this, I totally understand! I just thought that maybe-"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I want to help you out with your testing!" Aunt Cass answers with a warm grin. "I always want to help you any way I can-you're my nephew, for gosh sakes!" Then she adds, loud enough so that Hiro could hear her and wouldn't think they were saying anything negative about him,"And if it means getting to spend more time with this little guy, that's just an added bonus!" She smiles and grins at the robot, who beams happily back at her even if he didn't know exactly what was going on-as long as his patients seemed happy, he wasn't going to be one to question their actions.  
"I like spending time with you too, Aunt Cass!" the little boy states cheerfully.

"Aw, thank you!" Aunt Cass grins before looking back at up her nephew. "You must be so proud,! He's just-well, amazing is the only word that comes close to describing him!"

"Yeah, I really am," Tadashi tells her, going over to scoop Hiro up into his arms, who contentedly nuzzles up against his chest. "He's probably the most amazing thing I've ever made."

"I can second that," Aunt Cass agrees before playfully adding, "Just don't tell Baymax I said that!"

"I won't, trust me!" Tadashi reassures her.

"I won't either," Hiro promises, obviously wanting to feel included in the conversation.

"Thanks, bud," Tadashi chuckles, giving him a warm smile before carrying him over to the sink, wetting a cloth and starting to gently scrub away the sticky syrup that had managed to make its way onto the little boy's face.

"So, what does Fred think of him?" Aunt Cass asks with, seeming to enjoy just watching the two of them together.

"He… Actually doesn't know about Hiro yet," Tadashi admits.

"He doesn't?" Aunt Cass looks surprised, and rightfully so. "I thought you told him first about everything, especially something as important as this!"

"I do," Tadashi answers. "It's just that I haven't had a chance to yet. Hiro just finally made some major breakthroughs, so I haven't felt it's time to show him to anyone until now. But now that he has, I'm definitely planning to introduce him to Fred. I'm actually supposed to have a date with him tonight-do you think that would be an okay time to do it?"

"Well, you know your boyfriend better than me, dear," Aunt Cass responds. "But given this is something that's very important to you and I can almost guarantee Fred will want to be a part of it, I'd say that might be the perfect time."  
"Yeah, you're right," Tadashi agrees with a warm smile.

"Besides, if you don't, you'll probably be distracted all night-Heaven knows you're no good at hiding something when you really want to tell someone about it," Aunt Cass laughs.

"That… Is true," Tadashi admits with a wry smile. When he was working on a project he was great at keeping it a secret, but the minute it was done and he wanted to share it with the world, he was like a boiling pot-no matter how good a lid he tried to keep on what he was thinking and feeling it always managed to spill out.

"So I get to meet Fred?" Hiro asks eagerly, his eyes wide with excitement.

"If you want to!" Tadashi answers, loving how just how happy the little boy was at the idea of meeting his boyfriend.

"Yes!" Hiro replies, bouncing slightly with enthusiasm. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Okay then!" Tadashi warmly chuckles and pecks his forehead. "You'll definitely get to meet him tonight."

"Yay!" Hiro grins up at him.

"Well, you two should probably get home so you can start getting ready," Aunt Cass says, shaking her head slightly but seeming to be enjoying watching the two all the same. "Have fun, and tell me how it goes, okay?"

"We will!" Hiro promises before her nephew can answer.

"Well, I guess we are," Tadashi laughs, enjoying how outgoing the little boy was being.

"Good!" Aunt Cass beams at them before gently shushing them towards the exit.

"Do you think it would be mean to tell Fred that I have a surprise for him but not actually tell him what it until tonight?" Tadashi muses as he heads for the door.

"Very," Aunt Cass agrees, keeping an entirely straight face.

"So you think I should do it?"

"Oh, absolutely!"

"Isn't being mean to people bad?" Hiro asks, frowning in confusion up at Tadashi.

"Oh, I'm not talking about actually being mean," Tadashi amends (well, he kind of was, but Hiro didn't need to know that.) "It's more like… A kind of joke."

"Oh…" Hiro frowns in confusion but nods slowly all the same, apparently deciding not to question his maker's word.

"You two have a good time with Fred!" Aunt Cass tells them, waving as they make their way out onto the sidewalk. "And Tadashi, make sure to bring Hiro back to visit me soon, okay?"

"I will!" Tadashi tells her with a warm smile, waving back as the door closes behind him.

Hiro was bouncing slightly in his seat as the older man buckles him in, whether from the stimulation of being out of the house for the first time or the sugar in his system or both it was hard to tell.

"Did you have fun visiting Aunt Cass?" Tadashi asks him with a warm smile as he finally manages to get him strapped in.

"Mm!" Hiro agrees eagerly. "I had lots of fun!"

"Good!" Tadashi says with a warm chuckle.

"Do you think Aunt Cass really liked me?" Hiro asks quietly, suddenly going slightly shy.

"She loved you," Tadashi reassures him.

"That's good!" Hiro beams up at him. "I want to make her happy, like I want to make you happy!"

Something about that just made Tadashi's chest glow with warmth and, as he lovingly runs a hand over the little boy's hair, he reassures him, "You're making me really, really happy bud. More than you can ever know."


	4. Chapter 4

Once they reached home, it was just after noon and Tadashi realized with a slight start that his house was a complete and total mess. That often happened-when he was busy working on a project, he just kind of tended to let things go. When it came to his workspace he usually kept things pretty organized in his own sort of fashion, but as much as everyone around him assumed that he was a very neat person (and he was with places where he knew other people would see), if he was left up to his own devices he often didn't clean up until he had a good reason to do so. And having Fred coming over to meet Hiro for the first time was an extremely good reason!

"Hiro," Tadashi says as he surveys the living room and mentally starts calculating just how long this was going to take to get back in order, "I know you don't want to be left on the charger for longer than you have to be, and you don't have to go if you don't want to! But you probably used up a lot of energy last night and with going out to visit Aunt Cass this morning, plus I have a lot of work to do, so would you mind if I put you on to charge while I work on cleaning up the house?"

Hiro seems to consider this. "Do you need help cleaning?" he finally asks.

"Thank you for the offer," Tadashi tells him with a warm smile, "but I kind of have a system for cleaning here, and I'm worried you'll just be bored if you have to sit and watch me."

"Okay then!" Hiro answers, nodding in agreement. "I don't mind charging if you think it's a good idea!"

"Thank you for understanding." Tadashi gently cuddles him close before heading over to his office to put the little boy on his charger. "I promise I'll come and get you before Fred gets here, all right?"

"All right!" Hiro agrees, smiling warmly up at him before allowing his eyes to slide shut as the man hooks him up to his charger.

"Sleep well," Tadashi says softly, lovingly running a hand through the boy's hair. He knew that technically the robot wasn't really sleeping, but it just felt like the right thing to say. As he watched Hiro standing in his charger, he couldn't help but notice that it didn't look like a particularly comfortable position-he mentally makes a note to maybe look into making Hiro a small bed of some sort that he could lie down on when he charged. Honestly, now that the little robot was finally up and running, there were a lot of things that the man realized he should probably take into consideration. He hadn't thought about them before because he'd just been trying to get to this point, but considering he'd created Hiro to be a robotic version of a child, he was beginning to realize that the boy had a lot of the same needs as one. Well, maybe not "needs"-all the robot really needed to survive was a good electrical charge. But given how much Hiro was already starting to show his individuality and that he was very much a person (even if he had been built from parts instead of being born), it stood to reason that he'd probably feel a lot happier and more at home here if his more human needs and desires were fulfilled as well.

As Tadashi begins to work on straightening up the house-tossing out empty takeout containers and making sure that dirty socks actually made it into the laundry-he begins mentally making a checklist of the things Hiro might need-more clothes than just the ones he was currently wearing, probably (even if robots didn't sweat, they could still get dirty), and maybe a bed, like Tadashi had already been thinking about. Honestly, it might be fun to put together a small sort of bedroom for him-kids needed space to play and explore and grow, right? Maybe a part of the lab could be converted for that purpose, or even the unused nursery the house had that so far had only been used for storage. Cognitively Tadashi knew that he didn't need to go to all that trouble just for the robot, but the truth was he wanted to-it made him smile imagining taking Hiro shopping for new clothes and playing with him in a bedroom all his own, tucking him into bed at night and maybe even reading him bedtime stories. Yes, Hiro was a robot, and most people would tell him that he was just a machine, not a child that needed so much love and affection. And yes, technically Hiro was supposed to be looking after him, not the other way around. But that didn't matter to Tadashi. In his heart, somehow he knew that he already loved the little boy like he was his own (whether like a little brother or possibly even a son, he had yet to determine), and no one and nothing could ever change that.

It took Tadashi a few hours to thoroughly clean the house-by the time he finished, he had about two hours before Fred was supposed to arrive, which meant he had just enough time to work on dinner (tonight the plan was to just stay in the house and do a proper Netflix and chill date, which was honestly probably a good thing because if Hiro was going to be joining them the little boy had already had quite a lot of stimulation for the day and going out anywhere else might be a bit of an overload for his system.) The engineer was just about to head into the kitchen to start working on a homemade pizza when it suddenly occurred to him that Hiro was probably done charging by now and might want to be involved in this. The robot probably wouldn't be of much an actual help, but cooking was always more fun when you did it with someone else, plus, if this morning was any indication, Hiro really did like working in the kitchen. With a smile on his face, his mind made up, Tadashi heads to his lab to wake the little boy up.

"Hi," he says softly when the robot activates a few minutes later, already finding just how much his mood improved just from being with the little boy, even when he was just waking up.

"Dashi!" Hiro grins at him as his eyes blink open, raising his arms to the older man to be held.

"How did you sleep?" Tadashi asks, more than willingly scooping him up to carry him with him.

"Good," Hiro answers cheerfully. "Is Fred here yet?"

"Not yet," Tadashi chuckles, finding the little boy's excitement to meet his boyfriend adorable.

"Aw…" Hiro gives him a tiny pout, obviously disappointed that their guest hadn't arrived yet.

"But I thought maybe you'd like to help me make dinner for all of us!" Tadashi gently adds.

"Ooh, yes!" Hiro agrees eagerly, his good mood instantly returning. "Yes please! I want to help!"

"Great!" Tadashi beams down at him, happily touching his nose to the little boy's and making him giggle.

"What are we making?" Hiro asks curiously as they enter the kitchen.

"Pizza," Tadashi answers with a warm smile. "It's Aunt Cass' recipe-she always let me help her make it when I was growing up."

"And now I get to help you make it?" Hiro says with a grin.

"Exactly," Tadashi agrees, lovingly ruffling his hair before setting him down onto the counter-he hadn't really made that parallel yet, but it definitely wasn't something he was going to discourage.

As Tadashi had predicted, Hiro wasn't much of a practical assistant-he was too new to be able to really do a good job with measuring out ingredients or the like, although he was more than happy to pour the ingredients that the older man handed him into the bowl and "assist" with stirring the dough. He was also very enthusiastic when it came to sprinkling the cheese and putting pepperoni on the pizza, meaning that the end result wasn't exactly pretty, but it had been made with a lot of love so Tadashi knew it would taste amazing even if there was a bit too much cheese on it and the pepperoni weren't in perfect concentric circles.

After putting the pizza into the oven and the dishes into the sink to soak, the older man turns back to check on Hiro, only to let out an involuntary laugh when he sees that the little boy was completely covered in flour.

"What?" Hiro asks, frowning in confusion.

"You look like you just went through a snowstorm," Tadashi chuckles, grabbing a cloth to start wiping away the powder as best he could.

"Snowstorm?" Hiro repeats, seeming even more confused.

"Because the flour is white like snow so it looks like you're covered in snow," Tadashi gently explains.

"Oh…" Hiro seems to consider this and then declares, "You look like you're covered in snow too!"

"I guess I do!" Tadashi chuckles, realizing that he was also a pretty big mess. "I think we should probably both get cleaned up and change before Fred gets here. After all, we don't want him getting all powdery too!"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, obligingly letting Tadashi pick him up and start carrying him back down the hallway.

Once in the bathroom, the older man carefully helps the little boy undress and then settles him into a tub full of warm suds (the bottle of bubble bath he'd ended up with at a white elephant party last year was finally coming in handy) to start cleaning off while he takes his own shower. Like Baymax, Tadashi had thought to make the little robot water safe (after all, he didn't want his system to fry if he got caught in the rain or accidentally fell into a body of water), and since the robot couldn't drown he felt fairly safe with leaving Hiro in the tub while he rinsed himself off. When he finally steps out of the shower, it turns out that the little boy is having a fantastic time playing with all of the bubbles-so much so that Tadashi almost didn't want stop his fun, but Fred was going to be there soon and so after getting himself dressed he's forced to have to pull the plug (literally) and start rinsing the little boy off before toweling him off and getting him dressed. (Unfortunately all he had was the same clothes Hiro had already been wearing so he just had to hope that wiping them off would do-he seriously needed to get him some extra changes as soon as possible.)

He was just finishing drying Hiro's hair with the blow drier when suddenly the doorbell rings.

"Oh, he's here!" Tadashi cries, realizing that more time had passed than he'd thought.

"Fred?" Hiro asks, eyes going wide with excitement.

"Yep!" Tadashi answers with a grin, picking the little boy up. "You ready to meet him?"

"Yes!" Hiro beams up at him, bouncing slightly in his arms.

"Okay then!" Tadashi chuckles and walks out of the bedroom and into the living room.

"Hey, I have an idea," the older man says to the little boy in a conspiratorial whisper as a thought suddenly comes to him. "Wouldn't it be kind of fun to surprise Fred?"

"Um… Yes?" Hiro answers, seeming a bit uncertain but going along with it all the same.

"Maybe while I answer the door, you can wait here in the living room, and then I'll bring him in to meet you-how does that sound?" Tadashi continues.

"Do you think it's a good idea?" Hiro asks, seeming a bit confused by the older man's plan.

"Yes, absolutely!" Tadashi reassures him.

"Okay then!" Hiro nods, smiling up at him. "Let's surprise Fred!"

"Okay!" Tadashi laughs, settling the boy on the couch and lovingly pecking him on the forehead before going to greet his boyfriend.

"Took you long enough!" Fred says with a slight smile when the door finally swing open.

"Sorry, I was in the shower," Tadashi apologizes-that was at least mostly the truth without giving away too much.

"I guess I can forgive you, then!" Fred answers, pecking him gently on the cheek.

"Thank you!" Tadashi beams at him, lovingly pecking him back.

"So, what exactly is this 'surprise' you texted me about?" Fred asks curiously as he steps into the entryway, the other man closing the door behind him. "You kind of just sent me that one text and then dropped off the face of the planet, I was starting to worry about you!"

"Sorry, love," Tadashi tells him with a slight smile. "But you know I'm no good at keeping secrets, so the only way to keep this one was to not talk to you!"

"All right, granted," Fred sighs dramatically. "Are you planning to tell me now, though?"

"That is the plan, yes!" Tadashi agrees.

"Okay, so? What is it?"

"Don't you want to guess?"

"You want me to guess what you're excited about?"

"Sure!"

"Excited for you could mean you just received a major research grant or you saw a cute cat video, so that's not exactly a narrow field," Fred points out.

"All right, true, but c'mon, just guess!" Tadashi begs, playfully pouting at him.

"All right, all right!" Fred rolls his eyes before slightly smirking and, after thinking his answer over for a moment, deadpans, "You're pregnant."

Tadashi lets out a snort of laughter-it was an odd sort of inside joke they had together, a sort of automatic response they used whenever one of them said that they had big new or a surprise and was being particularly secretive about it. Obviously neither of them could get pregnant, so that was one surprise that neither of them would actually have for each other in this relationship, but they had fun teasing each other about it all the same. Still, in an odd way, it was actually close to the truth this time and so Tadashi, with as straight a face as he can manage, answers, "Well, not exactly..."

"Wait, what?" Fred blinks in surprise, completely caught off guard by his answer. "You-? What do you-? You can't be-!"

"I'm not actually pregnant!" Tadashi laughs, playfully pecking his cheek. "But there is someone I'd like you to meet."

"I- O-Okay?" Fred answers, apparently too shocked to really be able to form a complete sentence.

"C'mon." Tadashi tries not to laugh as he leads him into the living room, smiling as he gestures to the couch where the little robot was waiting for them. "Fred, I'd like you to meet Hiro."

"W-Who-?" Fred stammers, eyes going wide as he takes in the sight of the boy who greatly resembled Tadashi, a million different possibilities evidently flying through his mind.

Finally deciding to take pity on his poor boyfriend, Tadashi puts a hand on the other man's shoulder and explains with a smile, "He's my latest project."

"Project?" Fred glances between Tadashi and Hiro, and then understanding seems to dawn on him. "Oh-OH! I-Is this what you've been working on for so long?"

"Yep!" Tadashi agrees with a proud grin. "H.I.R.O.-a healing, interfacing robotic operating system. He's a psychological/emotional companion, kind of like a cross between Baymax and a service animal and an adorable little kid all rolled into one."

"H-He's incredible!" Fred cries, seeming just as excited as the other man now that he knew what was going on. "He looks so real!"

"He does, doesn't he?" Tadashi agrees, pride mixing with just a tinge of something sour in his chest-he knew that Hiro was a robot, and he was glad that Fred thought he appeared completely human, but was it wrong that he was a bit upset that anyone would think that Hiro wasn't, in fact, "real"? Well, in his boyfriend's defense, he hadn't interacted with the little boy yet or even knew exactly what he was capable of, so maybe things would change once he had.

"Hiro, it's okay, you can talk to him," the engineer gently prompts, seeing that toddler was looking a bit lost by the conversation and even a bit nervous. "I promise, he's as nice as Aunt Cass."

"Hi…" Hiro waves shyly to Fred, seeming a bit unsure as to what he was supposed to be doing but wanting to follow Tadashi's wishes all the same.

"Oh, hi!" Fred answers with a surprised grin. "Wow, so you can talk too? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, knowing Dashi built you, but still!"

"Dashi made me so I can do a lot of things!" Hiro states proudly.

"That sounds about right," Fred says with a warm chuckles, grinning up at his boyfriend.

"Tadashi talks about you a lot!" Hiro continues, apparently wanting to try to impress the older man.

"Oh does he?" Fred flashes Tadashi a playful look.

"Mm!" Hiro agrees eagerly. "He tells me what you guys do when you spend time together and how he loves you a lot and how he thinks you're as handsome as a prince out of a storybook!"

"He's said that about me?" Fred asks, seeming on the verge laughing.

Tadashi just shrugs and smiles in response-it didn't make any sense to deny it, and it wasn't like his boyfriend didn't know what he thought of him after over five years together.

"Well, I think he's just as handsome as a prince, if not even more so!" Fred declares, lovingly pecking his boyfriend's cheek.

"Aw!" Tadashi grins and lovingly pecks him back.

"So, wow-this is really amazing, Dashi!" Fred says after pulling him in for a proper kiss. "He's absolutely incredible-not that I'd expect anything less from you, but still!"

"Thanks-" Tadashi starts to answer, a pleased blush crossing his cheeks, when suddenly he hears the oven timer going off. "Oh, I need to go check on dinner!"

"I'll come with you," Fred offers.  
"Sure." Tadashi flashes him a grateful smile before quickly telling Hiro, "We'll be back in just a moment, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, beaming up at him before contentedly nuzzling into the couch cushions.

At first Tadashi just thought that Fred wanted to help, but somehow the atmosphere between them changes as soon as they're in the kitchen and away from Hiro, an oddly uncomfortable silence falling between them, and as the engineer works he can't help but feel a storm brewing.

"So…" Fred finally says slowly once his boyfriend has checked on the pizza and is starting to pull it out of the oven. "An emotional/psychological companion, huh?"

"Yep," Tadashi agrees, not quite meeting the other man's eyes as he slides the pizza onto a hot pad to keep it from scorching the countertop.

"Dashi… I don't mean to pry, but has it really been that bad for you lately?" Fred suddenly asks softly.

"I… I don't know," Tadashi answers, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I mean, not really any worse than usual? Look, I didn't just make Hiro because I've been having ptsd nightmares, I swear! I really thought he was something that could help a lot of people, and if he helps me in the meantime, well, is that such a bad thing?"

"It's not," Fred answers, a slightly worried expression on his face. "But if you're making him because it's easier for you to go to a robot than to another person for help, don't you think you should reach out to your friends and family first…?"

""Look, I know you're concerned about me, and I get it!" Tadashi feels himself snapping slightly. "But I can't help it if I have a hard time talking to people about the shit I'm going through, okay? I try to talk to you when I can, but you're human too, you can't be there for me every time I have a nightmare or a really bad flashback!"

"But I want to be!" Fred argues.

"But you can't!" Tadashi snaps, instantly regretting it when he sees the injured look on his boyfriend's face. "I-I'm sorry, Fred," he finally manages to get out, distractedly running his hands through his hair. "It's not that I don't trust you-I do. I tell you more about all of this than I tell anyone else. And I try to be good about opening up to you. But I can't be completely dependent on you either. I need to figure out how to process and handle this stuff on my own, and Hiro's one of my ways of doing that."

"I-I'm sorry too," Fred finally says softly, tentatively wrapping his arms around the other man and, when he isn't pushed away, pulling him closer. "I shouldn't have pushed you like that. I just… I hate seeing you hurting on your own if there's something I can do about it."  
"You've done so much for me, and you have no idea how much I appreciate that," Tadashi tells him, gently nuzzling up against him. "And I'm not trying to replace you with Hiro, I swear. I just… I need to learn how to be independent too, and I really think if Hiro can help me learn how to do that, then maybe he can help others too."

"I can respect that," Fred reassures him, lovingly pecking his forehead. "Just don't forget that I'm here and so are all of our friends whenever you need us, okay?"

"I won't," Tadashi promises. "If anything, I think Hiro's helping with that. He got me to go visit Aunt Cass today when I hadn't planned on doing that, and he got me even more excited than I'd normally be about out date tonight-I keep thinking about places I want to take him and things I want to do with him and I think he's actually going to get me out of the house and interacting more with people than I usually would!"

"Well, that definitely is amazing," Fred admits with a small grin. "Not that there's anything wrong with staying inside and having some alone time if you need it."

"Oh, of course not!" Tadashi agrees. "It's just nice feeling like I can actually enjoy doing slightly more social things when I have the energy for it, and when I don't I know that I can just stay here and Hiro will be fine with that too."

"You really care a lot about him, don't you?" Fred says softly, taking in his boyfriend's expression.

"Yeah, I do," Tadashi admits. "I know it's crazy since he's a robot, but… He's kind of like the little brother I never had, or maybe even…"

"Like a son?" Fred puts in gently when his boyfriend trails off.

"Kind of, yeah," Tadashi answers, flushing slightly. "I-Is that weird?"

"No," Fred reassures him. "I know how much you love kids, and I know that you've always wanted one of your own, so if Hiro's a healthy way you can process that, then I'm all for it. I just have one request."

"What's that?" Tadashi asks, feeling a bit nervous.

"That you let me be a part of this," Fred answers gently.

"W-What?" Tadashi asks, honestly surprised by his answer.

"It sounds like you're going to be spending a lot of time with Hiro, and it sounds like that's going to be a good thing for you," Fred responds. "But if something major is going on in your life, then I want to make sure I'm a part of it, if you'll let me. And if Hiro's going to be like your little bro or you son, then I want to be his other big bro or dad or whatever it is you end up deciding on-I just want to make sure that I'm doing as much to support you as anyone or anything else. Is that okay with you?"

"I-Actually, I'd really like that," Tadashi admits, a slight flush on his face.

"Yeah?" Fred grins down at him.

"Yeah." Tadashi smiles up at him before burying his face into his boyfriend's chest and saying, "I love you so much, you know that, right?"

"I do," Fred reassures him, lovingly kissing his forehead. "And I hope you know that I love you just as much."

"I do."

"Good. And if you ever forget, I will tell you over and over again until you remember it again."

"...You're such a dork, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know. But I'm your dork."

"Yes. Yes you are."


	5. Chapter 5

"So…" Fred says with a slight smile when Tadashi finally pulls away from kissing him properly, "Can I assume that Hiro is going to be joining us for our date night?"

"If it's okay with you?" Tadashi answers. "I mean, he doesn't have to, but he hates being left on his charger and it might be good for Minimax to get some more data on how his being there affects me…"

"It's perfectly fine," Fred reassures him. "I guess this just means _Deadpool_ is off the watch list since I'm not sure you want him watching something R rated, even if he is a robot."

"Oh man, you really wanted to watch that tonight, didn't you?" Tadashi winces. "If you still want to, I'm sure Hiro can just-"

"No." Fred gently squeezes his hand. "You want him with us, and that's all that matters to me. We can totally watch something more age appropriate for him-I mean, we both love cartoon movies anyways, it's not like it's a huge sacrifice or anything!"

"True…" Tadashi agrees with a slight smile. "Have I ever told you that you're the best boyfriend ever?"

"Yes, but I never get tired of it!" Fred answers with a grin, lovingly pecking him on the cheek. "So c'mon-let's grab our pizza and then go find a movie to watch with the little guy!"

"Sounds good!" Tadashi beams at him.

When they return to the living room a few minutes later, Hiro was still sitting on the couch, but Tadashi couldn't help but notice that something seemed wrong.

"Hey, you okay bud?" he asks gently as he approaches the little boy.

Hiro looks up with large, somewhat scared eyes, and says softly, "Were you and Fred fighting because of me?"

"What? No!" Tadashi answers, feeling guilty when he realizes that the toddler had apparently overheard them. "We were… We just needed to talk through a couple things. But we're totally fine now!"

"Really?" Hiro doesn't exactly look convinced by his words.

"Trust me, Dashi and I are fine!" Fred tells him firmly. "And, for the record, I'm really, really glad that he has you to help look after him. I can't be here all the time to make sure he's okay, so it's nice knowing that there's someone else taking care of him!"

"Really?" Hiro flashes him a hopeful smile.

"Absolutely!" Fred declares, reaching down to gently ruffle his hair.

"Okay then." Hiro contentedly nuzzles into the touch, his fears, at least for the moment, assuaged.

"So, it sounds like you're joining me and Dashi for movie night tonight!" Fred continues, his cheerfulness never wavering. "Do you have a favorite movie you'd like to watch?"

Tadashi couldn't help but grin at that-Fred was being so sweet with the little boy, even though he hadn't been sure about him just a few minutes before. Maybe he was just trying for the sake of his boyfriend, maybe he was actually starting to accept Hiro-whatever it was, the engineer couldn't help but be incredibly grateful for it.

"Um…" Hiro flashes Fred a slightly nervous look, obviously worried about saying the wrong thing. "I haven't actually seen any movies…"

"You haven't!" Fred lets out an over the top gasp and scoops Hiro up protectively into his arms, giving Tadashi a pretend horrified look. "Dashi, have you been depriving this poor child, denying him his right to even watch Disney movies?"

"No, Fred." Tadashi playfully rolls his eyes at him. "He finally became active last night so I just haven't had a chance to show him any movies yet!"

"Well then, we'll just have to fix that!" Fred declares.

"Yes we will," Tadashi agrees, laughing at just how excited his boyfriend was looking at this prospect.

"C'mon!" Fred eagerly carries Hiro over to the bookshelf where Tadashi kept his movie collection, grinning down at the little boy. "You can help me pick out your first movie!"

"Okay!" Hiro seemed a bit confused by the banter between the two men, but since it was obvious that neither of them were truly upset he apparently just decides to go with it.

"Let me know if you see anything that you think you'd like to watch!" Fred tells him, starting to pull different movies out so that the toddler could see his choices.

Hiro looked like he was taking the task of choosing the right movie very seriously, examining every case with an expression of deep concentration on his face. And then suddenly one catches his eye and he lets out a tiny gasp. "Oh, what's that one?"

"This one?" Fred looks down at the cover and grins. "It's one of my favorites-it's about a boy who makes friends with a dragon and learns how to ride him!"

"Can we watch this one, please?" Hiro asks hopefully.

"If that's the one you want to watch, sure!" Fred agrees.

"Yay!" Hiro beams up at him.

"You don't think it'll be too intense for him?" Tadashi asks as the other man goes to put the movie in the player.

"You know, you're already starting to sound like a dad," Fred tells him playfully.  
"I-!" Tadashi finds himself flushing at his boyfriend's words, not sure how to take them.

"He'll be fine," Fred reassures him, lovingly pecking him on the cheek. "Now c'mon-let's just enjoy movie night, okay?"

"O-Okay," Tadashi finally agrees, letting out a quiet sigh and telling himself to just relax-Hiro would be okay, and he didn't really have anything to worry about. Wow, Fred was right, he really was starting to act like a dad. Still, somehow it just felt… right. He didn't know if that was strange or not, but he decides not to think about it too much as he settles onto the couch to watch the movie with the other two.

Hiro was instantly drawn in by the movie-what kid wouldn't love a story involving really cool looking dragons? Still, Tadashi couldn't help but enjoy the toddler's wide eyed fascination, somehow making the movie feel new to him as well even though he'd seen it countless times before.

"So," Fred says softly about halfway through.

"Mm?" Tadashi looks over at him from where he'd been absentmindedly stroking Hiro's hair while watching the movie.

"I know you've told me and Aunt Cass about Hiro-are you planning on telling the others about him soon?"

"Well…" Tadashi considers this-despite the fact that all of them had graduated, the close group of friends that he'd made in college still got together and hung out whenever they could, always supporting each other and sharing their latest news whenever they had any. Now that Aunt Cass and Fred knew about Hiro, it did only make sense that he should tell them about the little boy too, especially with all the hints he'd been dropping while developing him and the help they'd given him with their different specialties. He just hadn't really thought about how to do the big reveal until now-hadn't let himself dream too far ahead until he knew that he actually had Hiro up and running. But now with Fred posing the question, he realized that he needed to start thinking about how to do it.

"I'm definitely planning to tell them about him as soon as possible," Tadashi finally answers. "And it would probably be best to do it when they're all together so no one feels left out."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Fred agrees. It was a given that significant others were usually told about projects first, but anyone else finding out about secret projects before the others, unless by accident, could sometimes be taken as favoritism and while they were mainly past that now hurt feelings had been known to happen if one or more of the group members felt snubbed.

"Do you think doing a reveal party would be appropriate?" Tadashi queries after thinking it over for a bit. "Nothing big or fancy, just get everyone together so that they can all meet him at the same time."

"That sounds like an excellent idea!" Fred agrees. "I can help you set it up if you want!"

"Aw, thanks, love." Tadashi beams and pecks his cheek. "I definitely wouldn't mind the help. I guess I should send out a text, see when everyone's free?"

"I'd say that's a really good start!" Fred answers.

"Okay then!" Tadashi chuckles and pulls out his phone, opening up the group's standard group text (lovingly called "The Nerd Herd", although it was known to change its name from time to time depending on the holiday season or what meme was popular at present.) He types up a quick message telling the others that his latest project was finally ready and he wanted to get everyone together to show them, asking when they'd all be available to get together to do that. He honestly didn't expect answers all that quick-all of them were busy with their jobs and personal lives, and even though they were pretty good at replying to texts it was a Thursday night and so most of them were probably resting after a long day of work, possibly already in bed so they'd be awake for the next day. To his great surprise, however, about a minute after sending the text, his phone started absolutely blowing up-most of the messages were from Honey Lemon, of course, lots of excited gifs and emojis and demands to know how soon they could have the party. GoGo, Abigail, and Wasabi, their other friends, finally managed to get in a few words edgewise, all seeming as excited for Tadashi, if in a slightly more understated way. After having to fend off a lot of questions asking for more information about his latest creation (nope, he wasn't going to give out any more clues until they were all together in person), they finally manage to schedule a time for the party-which, surprisingly enough, was the next night. Apparently everyone either didn't have plans (well, they were nerds, after all) or else were able to move or change them in order to make it. It was both very sweet and flattering that they were all so excited to see his work that they were willing to do that for him, but it also dropped a whole load of unexpected pressure on him.

"I guess I'll have to go shopping a lot sooner than I thought so I can have food for the party," he quietly mumbles as he shuts his phone off after confirming the exact time for everyone to show up so that he didn't have to deal with a million more texts trying to wheedle information out of him (Fred did likewise as he was a part of the group text and he kept getting alerts too.)

"I can bring some stuff over if that would help," Fred offers.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind bringing a few snacks, that would be awesome," Tadashi admits.

"Consider it done!" Fred declares.

"Thank you." Tadashi gratefully pecks his cheek. "As long as I order in pizzas for the main course, that definitely cuts down on my grocery shopping. I guess that might free up some time so I can go clothes shopping with Hiro too."

"You're taking him clothes shopping?" Fred asks curiously.

"Well, yeah," Tadashi answers with a slight smile. "He's only got the ones he's wearing right now, and you can see that they already kind of got dirty from when he was helping me cook today-he needs at least a couple changes so I can have time to wash his other ones, y'know?"

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Fred agrees. "Aw, I'd offer to go with you guys but my editor is on my tail to get to finish this first draft so I probably need to try to settle down and actually write something before the party tomorrow night."

"Understood," Tadashi reassures him, lovingly pecking him on the cheek. "Don't worry, knowing you, you'll probably be finding him little nerd t-shirts on the internet and sending them over to us before long so I don't think he'll be lacking in clothes from you."

"That… Is very true," Fred admits with a laugh. "Also probably tiny cosplays because they actually make costumes of characters for kids. Oh my gosh!" The fanboy suddenly grabs his boyfriend's arm, eyes going wide with excitement. "We totally have to take him to conventions with us, we can all do a group cosplay together, it would be amazing!"

"That sounds like a great idea," Tadashi agrees with a grin, imagining it. He didn't know exactly who they'd cosplay as, but he already had a lot of cute ideas going through his mind, and he knew Fred probably did too. It would be a lot of fun, and also really sweet, thinking of them almost like a little family…

Tadashi feels a faint blush crossing his cheeks at that-being a family kind of led him to thinking about some other things that he honestly wasn't sure he could express to his boyfriend. Even though they'd been dating for over five years, Fred had always been a little skittish when it came to the topic of actually settling down and getting married. It was probably because his own parents hadn't exactly been the greatest example of what marriage should look like-to the public they looked like a perfect couple, but behind closed doors Fred had had to witness more fighting and pettiness between them than any kid should have ever had to deal with. Tadashi's own parents had died when he was very young, so it wasn't like he really had any good examples in front of him either (Aunt Cass was a great parental figure, but she'd never actually been married.) Still, the engineer had always hoped that maybe it was something he and Fred could have together-living in a nice house like this one together, maybe even having a little family of their own-and whenever he broached the subject Fred told him that he wanted that someday too. Only "someday" kept getting pushed out further and further, with no actual promise of commitment to it, and while Tadashi knew that Fred loved him with all of his heart, he couldn't help but wonder if there were ever going to be wedding bells in their future. Still… Fred had said something about wanting to be Hiro's "other dad"-was that a sign that maybe he was thinking about making things a little more serious if he was talking in the terms of them being parents together, even if Hiro wasn't technically a human child? Tadashi was honestly too afraid to try to push for more, for fear that he might say something wrong that would cause his boyfriend to shut down on him like he'd so many times done in the past. But maybe, just maybe, Hiro would help steer them in a direction he'd been hoping for so long that their relationship would take.

Speaking of Hiro, while Tadashi was pretty sure that at least on some level the little boy had been listening to their conversation because that's what he was programmed to do, but either he didn't want to butt in or was too engaged in the movie to have actually noticed because his eyes hadn't left the screen the entire time they were talking. It was adorable how fascinated he was with the movie, and while he did seem pretty worried when Hiccup fell into the fire during the final fight scene, he was smiling by the end since everything ended happily.

"That was _so_ good!" he declares when the credits finally roll, eagerly bouncing in place.

"You liked it?" Tadashi asks, smiling warmly down at him.

"Mm!" Hiro nods eagerly. "The dragons were so cool!"

"See? I told you it was an awesome movie!" Fred laughs, gently ruffling the little boy's hair.

"You were right!" Hiro agrees, giggling at the contact.

Tadashi was about to say something more when suddenly a large yawn escapes him. It had been a really long, admittedly amazing but still emotion-filled day and it had definitely drained him. He hadn't realized just how tired he was until now, but now that the movie was over it was hitting him like a five ton weight.

"Someone's a sleepy little panda," Fred notes with a playful smile.

"Not a sleepy panda." Tadashi flashes him a glare but isn't able to fight down another yawn.

"Dashi needs to get some sleep!" Hiro declares, his full attention quickly going back to his patient.

"No, Hiro, I'm fine-" Tadashi starts to protest, but the little boy was adamant.

"You're tired, you need sleep!"

"You heard him!" Fred laughs. "Glad at least someone around here other than me is making sure you actually get some rest in!"

"Fine…" Tadashi finally sighs, realizing that he couldn't fight both of them. "But ganging up on me isn't really fair…"

"You need rest," Hiro answers, frowning in confusion. "Why are you upset?"

"I-It's complicated," Tadashi sighs. "But you're right-I guess if I go to bed now, then I can actually be up early enough to run errands."

"That's the spirit!" Fred laughs, playfully pecking him on the cheek. "I'll get heading out so you can actually get some sleep, okay?"

"Okay," Tadashi agrees, gently pecking him back.

"You make sure he actually does go to bed and stays there, okay?" Fred tells Hiro.

"I will!" Hiro promises, an adorably determined look on his face.

Tadashi ends up walking Fred to the door, kissing him goodnight and promising to text him if he needed any help setting up tomorrow before closing and locking the door behind him and going to collect Hiro from the couch.

"All right, I'd probably better go get you on your charger so you can have some energy for tomorrow too, huh?" Tadashi says with a soft smile. But, to his great surprise, Hiro frowns up at him in response.

"No! I promised Fred I'd make sure you stayed in bed and got you sleep!" the little boy protests.

"Hiro, I promise you, on my honor, I will stay in bed and actually sleep," Tadashi tells him with a small laugh, finding it sweet how seriously Hiro took his job of taking care of him. But when the little boy doesn't answers, a small bit of anxiety making its way onto his face, the older man realizes that there might be something more to it.

"Bud, what's wrong?" he asks gently.

"C-Can I stay with you tonight?" Hiro finally answers, tone and eyes pleading.

"O-Of course you can," Tadashi answers automatically, although inside he couldn't help but wonder why the little boy seemed to be so scared to be left alone. Then again, he did have the mind and emotions of a young child-he probably hated the dark as much as any other kid. And if staying with Tadashi would make him feel better, than he wasn't about to deny him that. Plus, the older man realized with a slight start, if he did have nightmares again tonight (and he might, despite it being a really good day-that didn't matter, nightmares came as easily after an amazing day as they did after a royally shitty one), then maybe having Hiro there would help like it did last night-and maybe that was actually the reason why the little boy wanted to be there with him. It could be a combination of both, but it was comforting to know that there was someone looking out for him like that.

"Thank you." Hiro smiles gratefully up at him.

"You're welcome." Tadashi lovingly pecks his forehead, snuggling the toddler close in his arms. "Now c'mon, let's get heading to bed, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees happily.

About half an hour later, after Tadashi had turned off all the lights in the house, brushed his teeth, and changed into his pajama pants and t-shirt for the night, he couldn't help but be glad that Hiro had convinced him to go to bed-on his own he probably still would have stayed up for a while, perpetual night owl that he was, but he honestly was pretty exhausted so getting some shut eye was probably actually a really good idea. And there was something about climbing into bed and having Hiro immediately crawl over to happily nuzzle against him chest, contentedly curling up against him, which was infinitely more satisfying than staying up a little bit later.

"Night, Hiro," Tadashi whispers as he pulls the covers over both of them and pulls the little boy close.

"Night," Hiro answers, smiling shyly up at him before adding quietly, "Love you, Dashi."

Tadashi can't help but grin at that-the little boy honestly hadn't been around long enough to really know what love was yet, he'd only just activated. Still, he probably knew that humans said it to each other before leaving each other or going to bed, so it was still sweet. And as the engineer answers softly, "Love you too, Hiro", he could only hope that someday Hiro would reach the point where he could say that and know what it actually meant.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning, Tadashi wakes up feeling significantly better than he had the day before. His mind still held vague memories of yet another nightmare, and he knew that he'd woken up gasping for air a few time during the night from reliving the traumatic scenes from the car accident. But every time he had, Hiro had been right there for him, cuddling and hugging him until his exhausted mind and body let him fall back asleep, and after the first time or two he actually managed to settle into more innocuous dreams that were just the normal level of strange that dreams usually are versus psychologically and emotionally painful.

Shortly after he woke up, Hiro activated, apparently sensing his movements and coming out of sleep mode.

"'Morning Dashi," he says, smiling sleepily up at the older man.

"'Morning yourself." Tadashi contentedly cuddles him close. "Did you sleep okay?"

He realized almost immediately after asking this that it was a slightly insensitive question as Hiro couldn't actually sleep and he'd been up half the night keeping him company. Still, the little boy didn't seem to mind, just answering, "Good! What about you? I know you had a lot of nightmares-are you okay?"

"Having you here made me feel a million times better," Tadashi reassures him, gently pecking his forehead before asking, "So, you ready to get up and start the day?"

"Yes!" Hiro beams up at him.

"Okay!" Tadashi chuckles and scoops him up into his arms before heading over to the closet to pick out his clothes for the day.

"So, are you excited for tonight?" he asks the little boy a little while later as he starts getting ready.

"We're having a party tonight, right?" Hiro asks.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees. "A party so all of my friends can meet you-do you think you'll do okay with that?"

"All of your friends sound really nice," Hiro answers after seeming to think it over for a moment-he'd heard Tadashi talk about all of them at some point during his testing stages. "Do you think they'll like me?"

"They'll love you!" Tadashi promises. "Honey Lemon and Abigail are going to absolutely flip, and I think Wasabi will really be impressed too! GoGo might make some jokes, but I promise that she doesn't mean any of it in a mean way, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees with a trusting expression on his face before asking curiously, "When do I get to meet your _sensei_?"

"My-? OH MY GOSH." Tadashi's eyes go wide as he realizes he'd made one very major error-in all of his excitement over Hiro finally activating, he'd forgotten to inform one of the most important people in his life, the person who was responsible for encouraging him and pushing him until he gained the skills that had let him create both Hiro and Baymax: his mentor, Professor Robert Callaghan.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, _shit_ ," Tadashi hisses to himself in a panic, only to panic even more as he realized who exactly he was cursing in front of. "Oh my gosh, Hiro, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-! Please, please don't repeat what I just said, especially not in front of Aunt Cass!"

"I won't," Hiro promises, frowning slightly. "But why are you so upset? D-Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no you didn't!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him. "It's just I totally blanked on telling Professor Callaghan about you being finished, and if he finds out that his daughter got to meet you before he did-!"

"Will he be mad?" Hiro asks worriedly.

"Not… Mad, exactly," Tadashi answers, trying to think how to explain this. "But maybe a bit hurt-a lot hurt, even. Oh man, I need to figure out how to fix this! Um, maybe we have time to stop by his office at SFIT? No, we've got so many errands to run… Shi-Shoot. Shoot, shoot, shoot." At least one improvement from all of this, he'd at least kept himself from cursing this time.

"You don't want him to feel hurt because Abigail might meet me first, right?" Hiro asks.

"Yes, that's right," Tadashi agrees, knowing he should be proud that Hiro had remembered that Abigail was Professor Callaghan's daughter but too stressed out to manage it at the moment.

"And you said Abigail's coming to the party tonight, right?" Hiro presses.

"Yes…" Tadashi agrees, wondering where he was going with this.

"Then why doesn't your sensei come to the party too so they can meet me at the same time? That way no one can feel hurt," Hiro states, as if it was the most logical thing in the world-which, the older man realized after thinking it over for a minute, it just might be.

"That… Actually might work," Tadashi admits. "It's a bit last minute, but it's worth a shot!"

"Good!" Hiro beams up at him.

Tadashi checks the time on his phone-10 am, the professor should definitely be awake by now. He pulls up the man's number on speed dial and presses "Call", hoping and praying that this would all work out okay.

"Hello?" After a few rings, a familiar voice answers on the other end.

"Sensei!" Tadashi can't help but grin at the sound of his surrogate father's voice (Professor Callaghan had been an old friend of his dad's before the accident and made a special effort to make sure that the boy hadn't gone with a positive male role model growing up-it was probably thanks to all the time he spent with him and all the robotics expos he'd taken him to that Tadashi had entered the robotics field.)

"Well, hello, Tadashi-what a pleasant surprise to hear from you! Is everything alright?" Professor Callaghan replies, his tone cheerful but a bit concerned (and rightfully so-Tadashi wasn't always the greatest at asking for help on problems until he'd gotten himself good and stuck in a mess and so a lot of sudden phone calls that he made to his mentor were desperate pleas for help.)

"Yes, everything's perfectly fine!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him. "More than fine, actually-I was calling to let you know that I finally finished my latest project!"

"Really?" Tadashi could almost hear the older man beaming with pride, even if he couldn't see him. "Well, congratulations! I'm sure that it's absolutely wonderful, whatever it is."

"Thank you." Tadashi feels a pleased flush crossing his own face. "Actually, I was calling to see if you wanted to come over to see hi-it?" Hiro was definitely a "he" to him by now, but saying "it" left a bit more of an air of mystery to the nature of the robot.

"Not right now, of course!" Tadashi quickly continues. "But I'm planning to get everyone together for a big reveal party tonight around seven, so maybe if you don't have anything else going on tonight…?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Professor Callaghan answers firmly.

"R-Really? Thank you!" Tadashi feels his heart lifting in his chest-this was going to work out after all! "I promise, you won't be disappointed!"

"You've never once disappointed me, Tadashi, I'm sure you're not about to start now," the older man warmly chuckles.

"I-I do my best." Tadashi was glad he was alone except for Hiro because he knew he was blushing bright pink right now-his father figure's approval meant everything to him, and he could only hope that Hiro would be up to his standards.

"Well, I'm sure you have things to do to get ready for tonight, so I'll let you go," Professor Callaghan tells him. "I look forward to getting to see you and your new invention."

"T-Thank you, I look forward to seeing you too!" Tadashi beams before hanging up his phone and letting out a huge sigh relief-Hiro had managed to come to his rescue yet again.

"So he's coming?" the little boy asks, startling him back into the present.

"What? Oh, yes!" Tadashi grins down at him. "He's coming, and he's really, really excited to meet you!"

"Yay!" Hiro cheers. "I'm really excited to meet him too!"

"I'll bet you are," Tadashi chuckles, lovingly ruffling his hair. "So, want to go get some breakfast before going out to run errands?"

"Sounds good!" Hiro agrees eagerly.

"Okay then!" Tadashi chuckles and offers the little boy his hand. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Hiro flashes him an adorable gap toothed smile as he takes his hand and together they head off down the hallway towards the kitchen.  
After a quick breakfast of cereal (Hiro discovered his first food that he didn't like-Raisin Bran-which Tadashi had to agree wasn't great but it was at least semi-healthy), it was time to actually go out and do their shopping for the party and to find Hiro some clothes. Their first stop was at the nearby grocery store-the engineer couldn't help but smile at how excited Hiro was, not only by all the aisles of different foods, but by all of the different people in the store. He seemed fascinated by how they all interacted with each other and went about their business and even by some of the very unique looks that some of them were sporting (the older man made a mental note that the little boy was probably going to flip over GoGo's purple streaked hair that night.) What made it even better for Tadashi was how people reacted to Hiro-he knew that there were a lot of people who got excited whenever they saw a cute kiddo in public (and who could blame them?) but he hadn't realized just how many were going to stop and want to talk to him and the toddler. Every time Hiro seemed more than eager to talk to them too, apparently really enjoying getting to interact with other people and make their days just a little bit brighter by being as sweet and friendly as possible. Seeing the little boy fulfilling his purpose like that and having almost everyone tell him just how lucky he was to have a little boy like Hiro was more than enough to fill Tadashi's heart with pride for the little toddler. Of course he faced the awkward question a number of times if he was Hiro's dad, and he realized that he hadn't really thought through a good answer for that yet-he honestly hadn't really figured it out himself, although he knew explaining to everyone that the little boy was actually a robot would be more trouble than it was worth. Hiro came to his rescue in a roundabout way, proudly telling everyone that Tadashi had made him, which made everyone laugh thinking that was his slightly cheeky way of saying that the inventor was indeed his father, so that settled that. Still, as they eventually left the store (a bit later than Tadashi had expected, but he didn't really mind the delay) with their groceries, Hiro looks up at him and asks,

"Dashi?"

"Mm?" Tadashi answers, trying to focus on what the little boy was saying while getting the bags into the trunk of the car.

"What are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"All those people… They wanted to know if you're my dad. Are you?"

"Well…" Tadashi looks down at the little boy and takes a deep breath, realizing that it was about time he and Hiro had this conversation. "I think that really depends on what you want."

"What I want?"

"Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm kind of like a dad to you since I made you, and I definitely love you with the same amount of love a dad would. But what's important to me is what you want me to be-I mean, I could be your dad, your older brother, your friend, all of the above, or something else entirely. It's just whatever makes you happiest."

Hiro frowns in concentration, seeming to be thinking over what the older man just said. "I… I like all of those," he finally answers.

"Yeah?" Tadashi smiles and lovingly ruffles his hair. "Me too."

"Yeah?" Hiro beams up at him.

"Definitely!" Tadashi reassures him.

"So it's okay if I maybe call you Papa or nii-chan?" Hiro asks hopefully-he must have remembered those names from his testing when "Dashi" hadn't worked as an alternate nickname and Tadashi had started to get creative with trying to get him to use any type of nickname.

"If you'd like to," Tadashi answers with a warm smile, secretly thrilled that the little boy might consider him either of those.

"But I can keep calling you 'Dashi' too, right?" Hiro hurries to ask.

"Yes, you can absolutely still call me 'Dashi'," Tadashi agrees, pulling him into a tight hug. "You can always call me that."

"Good, 'cause I like calling you Dashi!" Hiro giggles as he hugs him back.

"I like you calling me Dashi too," Tadashi answers, feeling like his heart was full to overflowing.

"Yeah?" Hiro beams up at him.

"Definitely!" Tadashi reassures him.

Hiro beams, contentedly nuzzling up against him, and they just stayed like that for a minute. Unfortunately, a grocery store parking lot wasn't exactly the best place for a snuggle session, and they had at least one more stop to make, so after that minute Tadashi's forced to tell the little boy that they should probably get into the car just so that they weren't blocking traffic. Hiro seems a bit embarrassed for having caused a bit of a scene, but the older man quickly squashes those fears.

" _Never_ apologize for telling someone how much you care about them, okay, bud?"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, grinning gratefully up at him before climbing up into the back seat.

It took them about half an hour to get to the local mall from there. Tadashi wasn't exactly experienced in buying clothes for kids, but he'd gotten Hiro's current outfit from one of the department stores here, so he figured it was as good as any other place. Last night he'd started making a mental list of clothes that Hiro might need, but it had soon occurred to him that he probably only needed to get a few outfits for the little boy-between having Aunt Cass as his aunt/grandmother and Honey Lemon being such a fashion aficionado, let alone all the others who probably wouldn't be able to resist any child sized nerd clothes that they came across, the toddler was probably going to soon have more clothes than he knew what to do with. Still, Tadashi couldn't help but be glad that he was getting a chance to shop for Hiro before all of that happened-there was just something oddly exciting about getting to help his little boy pick out some new clothes that he somewhat selfishly but understandably didn't want to share with anyone else just yet.

"What is this place?" Hiro asks curiously as the older man leads him through the automatic doors leading into the store.

"It's a really big shop where people can buy a lot of different things that they need," Tadashi explains to him. "It's called a 'department store' because the items are organized into different departments so people have an easier time finding them."  
"Oh, okay!" Hiro smiles in understanding before taking in their surroundings. "Which department are we going to?"

"The children's clothes department to get you some new clothes," Tadashi tells him.

"Why do I need more clothes?" Hiro asks, glancing down at the clothes that he was currently wearing. "I like these!"

"I do too," Tadashi answers, trying not to chuckle too loudly-that was definitely something a toddler would say, and while it could be chalked up to robotic logic it was still adorable.

"But see how your clothes are dirty from yesterday?" the older man continues gently.

"Yes?" Hiro agrees before his eyes go wide, his expression slightly fearful. "I-I'm sorry, Dashi! I didn't mean to get them dirty!"

"No, no!" Tadashi quickly crouches down to his level and pulls him into a tight hug. "You're not in trouble! Clothes just get dirty when you wear them-you can't help that! But when they get dirty, you need to wash them so they'll be clean again, and you need more clothes to wear while they're being washed!"

"Oh!" Hiro looks immensely relieved. "I guess we can go look for new clothes, then!"

"Okay." Tadashi lovingly pecks his forehead before finally letting him go, standing up and gently taking the little boy's hand in his own again. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Hiro grins up at him.

The children's department turned out to be on the bottom level of the store, and the two had to take an escalator downstairs to get to it. Tadashi hadn't realized that Hiro might be a bit afraid of the moving stairs until they actually go there, and when he sees the little boy's trepidation at getting on, he offers to carry him while they went down. The toddler was adamant, though-he was going to do this all by himself, and after a minute of stalling, he finally manages to step onto a step.

"Awesome job, bud!" Tadashi cheers him as he steps onto the same one.

"Yeah?" Hiro looks hopefully up at him.

"Absolutely!"

Hiro beams and contentedly nuzzles against his leg before staring down through the glass side of the escalator in slight awe at the lower level of the store that they were swiftly approaching.

"Wow!" the little boy says when they finally reach the bottom, Tadashi carefully supporting him to make sure that he didn't lose his balance as they step onto solid floor again. "That was super cool!"

"You liked it?" Tadashi asks, enjoying his childish wonder.

"Yeah!" Hiro agrees before looking up at the escalator with a small frown on his face. "How does it work, Dashi?"

"I, uh…" That wasn't exactly the sort of thing Tadashi expected to come out of the toddler's mouth, but he supposed it was an understandable question given how curious the little boy was. "I'm not sure, exactly," he finally answers. "Probably a motor and gears moving the steps, I'd imagine. We can look it up later, if you'd like!"

"That would be good!" Hiro agrees before looking around with curiosity at their surroundings. "Is that the children's department?" he finally asks, pointing to the big sign hanging not far from them that said "Children's" in large letters.

"Yes, yes it is-" Tadashi agrees, only to pause in surprise again. Wait, had Hiro actually _read_ the sign? It took him a moment to remember that Hiro wasn't an ordinary five year old-maybe emotionally he was, but he still had a computer for a brain, which meant of course he could read and do a lot of things that other five year olds couldn't. It was admittedly a bit disconcerting for a moment, but Hiro looked so proud of his accomplishment that any surprise quickly melted away and Tadashi found himself extremely proud of the little boy's accomplishment too.

"Can we go?" Hiro asks hopefully, gently tugging on the older man's hand.

"Yes, we can definitely go," Tadashi agrees with a warm smile, allowing the little boy to take charge.

Once in the children's department, Tadashi and Hiro honestly had a lot of fun picking out clothes. They started out in the boy's department for shorts and finding a couple basic t-shirts, but when Hiro spotted and fell in love with a hoodie in the girl's department that was pink with a kitten on it, Tadashi wasn't about to turn him down. If his little guy wanted to wear pink, then he wasn't going to stop him-he could wear whatever he wanted as long as it made him happy. Frankly he was prepared to let Hiro try on a dress if that's what he wanted to do (he was going to be a completely supportive dad/older brother, fuck what society had to say about clothes), but the little boy seemed to prefer more conventional shorts and pants, so that's what they stuck with. It was as they were getting ready to head to the checkout, though, that Hiro finally found something that was completely perfect for him.

"Dashi, look!" he cries excitedly, pointing to a nearby rack of clothes.

"Oh my gosh, _yes_ , that is absolutely amazing!" Tadashi chuckles when he spots the red t-shirts with the dragons on them. It was obvious that thanks to last night's movie Hiro was now enamored with dragons, and he could already tell that the little boy was going to look adorable in the shirt, so he was more than happy to grab one in the toddler's size.

Fortunately the line to the register wasn't that long, and when the finally reached the counter, grandmotherly lady running it started cooing over the little boy, Hiro happily chatting away with her as she rung up their purchases. Tadashi didn't realize that the toddler was keeping an eye on the numbers on the register, though, until right before the total appeared on the screen the little boy looked up at him and said the proper amount, minus the tax-apparently he'd been adding up the numbers in his head as they went along.

For a moment Tadashi was surprised yet again by the fact that Hiro was showing just how smart he was, but the initial shock was definitely wearing off and this time he laughs in pleasure as he grins down at the little boy. "Yeah, that's right, bud! Awesome job!"

"Goodness, he's certainly smart!" the woman at the register notes, the almost disbelief evident on her face. "How old did you say he was?"

"Five," Tadashi automatically answers.

"I think you might have a little genius on your hands," she says, still not seeming to be able to believe what she'd just seen, or rather, heard.

"Yeah, you're right," Tadashi agrees, giving the toddler a proud smile as he gently ruffles his hair. "My little genius."

The woman didn't really say much after that, and Tadashi was glad of that (again, explaining about Hiro being a robot not only was a bit complicated, it kind of defeated the toddler's purpose since he was supposed to appear as natural as possible to the people he interacted with.) Still, on their way back up the escalator, Tadashi noticed that Hiro was a lot more subdued than he'd been on the way down. By the time they got to the car and Hiro wordlessly climbed into the back seat, the older man realized that something was definitely wrong.

"Bud, c'mon, talk to me," he says softly. "What's going on?"

"I-Is something wrong with me?" Hiro finally asks, an almost afraid look in his eyes.

"What? No!" Tadashi cries. "Why would you think that?"

"T-The lady acted differently when I added up those number," Hiro answers quietly. "Like I'd done something wrong…"

"Oh, Hiro…" Tadashi pulls him close again. "I'm so, so sorry if she worried you like that. You did absolutely nothing wrong! She was just-she was surprised when you showed her just how smart you are. But that doesn't mean that she was mad or that there's anything wrong with you! The fact that you're so smart is _amazing_! You have no idea how proud I am of you that you can read and do math like that!"

"T-The lady thought it was weird I could add up all those numbers…" Hiro hedges, seeming to feel a bit better from hearing Tadashi's words but not completely sure yet.

"She was just surprised because most kids your age can't do math like that," Tadashi explains.

"So I'm different?" Hiro asks softly.

"Yes," Tadashi admits. "But different isn't a bad thing! Different can mean that you're just a little extra amazing! And you know what?"

"What?"

"When I was your age, I was different too."

"You were?"

"Yep! I wasn't quite as smart as you, but I was smarter than the other kids my age too. And guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm glad that I was a little extra smart, because being smart means I was able to build you, and I'm so, so glad I was able to do that."

"Yeah?" Hiro seems to be fighting a smile now.

"Absolutely." Tadashi gently kisses his forehead. "So don't let anyone make you feel worried just because you're smart, okay? Be happy with exactly who you are, and know that even if someone else might think it's weird I will never love you any less because of anything you do, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, giving him a shy gap-toothed smile before saying softly, "Thank you, Dashi."

"What for? For the talk?" Tadashi asks with a slight smile of his own.

"Mm. A-And for building me," Hiro adds shyly. "I'm really glad you're smart so that you could make me!"

"Me too, bud," Tadashi lightly chuckles, lovingly ruffling his hair and holding him close. "Me too."


	7. Chapter 7

By the time that they got home from their shopping, it was well after noon, and Tadashi knew that he needed to get to work on prepping for the party as soon as possible. However, when he opened the back door to the car and found that Hiro, who he had assumed was just watching out the windows in silent awe as usual, was looking a bit on the droopy side, he realized that first things first he needed to get the little boy onto his charger. Ever since Hiro had decided that he preferred sleeping with Tadashi to staying on his charger overnight, he kept running into this problem-even though he went into power save mode when he actually did "sleep", he never got any more energy in his system, so he would always be running low by the middle of the afternoon. While that was fine for now, it was probably best that Hiro started getting on a more normal human schedule, and so Tadashi would have to see about doing something to allow him to be able to charge overnight in the bed-a portable charger, maybe, like for cellphones, that could be charged up during the day in the lab and then could recharge Hiro's battery's during the night. It was definitely something he needed to look into working on, although probably not right now-right now he needed to get Hiro onto his charger and then set up for the party.

As Tadashi started work on making the guac and other party foods while Hiro charged in the workshop, the man noted that it was honestly nice to finally have some peace and quiet for the first time since the robot had activated (except for that time yesterday when he'd been cleaning up the house, but cleaning had required so energy that it hadn't been much of a break). Still, after about an hour or two of silence except for the sounds of food preparation, he began to find that he was actually missing Hiro's adorable chatter that helped fill the extended periods of quietness that often came with living alone. As an introvert, Tadashi had always thrived in having time alone to himself in between spending time with other people, and he knew he always would. Somehow, though, he was becoming so used to Hiro's constant presence, and the little boy didn't drain him like most other people. Maybe it was because he was a robot, or maybe it was something else entirely that the older man didn't have a name for. Whatever it was, Tadashi hoped that the little boy would finish charging soon so he could see him again, and for now he would just have to fill the silence in another way.

The man pulls out his phone and starts flipping through his music selections, looking for a good option. Usually his music of choice while working on something was Fall Out Boy or a similar band, but right now he was in the mood for something a bit more lighthearted so he turns on Owl City. It felt like forever since he'd last listened to anything from this album, and he can't help but grin as the first song comes on.

"But when her smile came back, and I didn't feel half as horrible. She gave me a heart attack just because she looked so adorable," he sings softly along to the music. "We both put our sunblock on, laid on the beach and vowed that we'd live and we'd learn. Yeah, but she got a tan and I got a sunburn."

Being the nerd he was and since he was alone in the house, he ends up dancing along with the music as he starts laying food out on the table. He honestly couldn't dance to save his life (everyone was always shocked to find out that Fred was actually the dancer of the pair since he'd been forced into taking ballroom dancing lessons by his parents while Tadashi had only learned Aunt Cass' 80's style dance moves.) Still, that didn't keep him from trying, and he had fun messing around if no one was watching him. As it turned out, though, he wasn't exactly without an audience. About half an hour into the album as he was finishing putting the freshly made mochi into the freezer, he has the odd feeling that someone was watching him, and he turns around to find a still slightly sleepy looking Hiro standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"H-Hiro, what are you doing here?" the older mani cries, blushing and feeling like he'd just been caught doing something a lot less innocuous than what he'd actually been doing.

"I finished charging and you never came back for me, so I thought I'd come and find you," Hiro answers innocently before asking curiously, "What were you doing?"

"Dancing-in only the roughest sense of the word, and very badly," Tadashi laughs self-deprecatingly. "Um, promise me that you won't tell anyone about that?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, frowning slightly. "But why don't you want anyone to know?"

"Because everyone I know knows how horrible at dancing I am, so I'll probably get laughed into eternity if they find out that I dance in the kitchen while I cook."

"You looked like you were having fun, though," Hiro notes.

"I-I guess I was…"

"So does it matter that anyone else thinks it's silly?"

"I-I guess not? It's complicated..."

"Why is it complicated? You have fun dancing, so you should dance if you want to!" Hiro says firmly. "You told me not to be afraid to be different 'cause I'm smart-you shouldn't be afraid to dance just 'cause you dance a little different!"

Tadashi was about to argue, but then he saw the adorably determined look on the little boy's face and he feels his heart softening. "Okay," he finally says softly. "How about a compromise? I'm still not sure about dancing in front of everyone else, but I promise I'll at least try not to get embarrassed about dancing in front of you to start with. Does that sound fair?"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees with a nod after considering the offer for a moment.

"Okay then." Tadashi finds himself chuckling, glad that that was over. Only, as it turned out, it wasn't quite over yet.

"Will you teach me how to dance, Dashi?"

"What? Oh man, Hiro, I'm definitely not the person you want to teach you how to dance!" Tadashi protests. "I told you that my dancing isn't any good, you should probably talk to Fred or maybe Honey Lemon-"

"No!" Hiro says firmly. "I want to learn your type of dancing!"

Either the little boy just was trying to copy him or else this was the robot's sneaky way of getting him dancing again, but it became quickly evident to Tadashi that the toddler wasn't going to back down on this.

"A-All right," the man finally agrees, scrolling through the list of songs in the album to find a song with a good dancing beat to it. After a minute, he smiles as he selects "Hot Air Balloon"-he'd heard this particular song for the first time during a dance party on a youth group retreat and he and Honey Lemon (who had just gone simply by Aiko back then since they hadn't met Fred yet) had had an awesome time dancing along to it. If he was going to dance along to something, this song had enough positive feelings associated with it to keep him from getting too freaked out.

"We'll start out pretty simple, okay?" Tadashi tells Hiro. "Just follow me and do what I do."

"Okay!" the little boy agrees eagerly.

Tadashi started out with the electric slide-pretty basic, and not really that embarrassing because it was mainly just a set of steps, although there was some clapping and arm movements that could be added in if you wanted to get really into it. He'd hoped that Hiro would be content with that, but nope, the little boy wanted to learn all of his dance moves, so that meant moving on to the sprinkler, running man, thriller, the robot, cabbage patch, a very poorly done moonwalk, and even vogue. He was pretty sure that none of these dance moves were ever meant to be done to Owl City, and he was probably putting the entire 80's to shame with his poor attempts. Still, Hiro had a great time, seeming to have no shame in looking absolutely ridiculous, and soon he had Tadashi laughing so much that the older man couldn't even bring himself to mind that he probably looked completely insane. He was even attempting a bit of breakdancing while the little boy cheered him on when suddenly he hears the sound of someone bursting out laughing and crying, "Dashi, what are you doing?"

"Fred!" Tadashi turns bright red when he sees his boyfriend standing in the doorway and clutching his side he was laughing so hard.

"W-Were you just break dancing to Owl City?!"

"Y-Yes?" Tadashi answers, blushing even deeper red before demanding, "W-What are you doing here? Better question, why didn't you knock before coming in?!"

"I-I did, but you never answered," Fred manages to get out, wiping tears from his eyes. "Now I can see why!"

"I'm seriously debating revoking your house keys right now!"

"No, no, I'll behave!" Fred promises. "Just-what on Earth would possess you to do something like this?"

"Dashi was teaching me how to dance!" Hiro declares, looking protective of his patient.

"I see," Fred says, obviously trying to keep a straight face. "What all did he teach you?"

Hiro instantly goes into the whole repertoire of dance moves he'd just learned, even mixing a few together and creating his very own funky little versions of them.

"That-is actually pretty impressive," Fred admits with a grin. "Tadashi actually taught you all of that?"

"Yep!" Hiro agrees, smiling proudly up at the older man.

"Wow, Dashi, how come you never told me that you knew how to do all of those different dances?" Fred asks, looking at his boyfriend in surprise.

"I-I'm really not that good!" Tadashi mumbles, flushing.

"Apparently you are if you could teach Hiro all of that! C'mon, now you have to teach me too!"

"What?! NO!"

"Why not? It looks fun!"

"I think I've done enough dancing for one day, thank you very much!"

"C'mon, please? Just one! I swear I won't laugh!"

"Fine…" Tadashi sighs, trying to think of something that wouldn't be too embarrassing and then grinning a bit mischievously as an idea comes to him. "Okay, I might actually have something."

"All right, show me!"

"It's a couple's dance, so you're going to have to dance it with me."

"Sure! Just show me what to do!"

"Okay." Tadashi puts on a more appropriate salsa song (compliments of Honey Lemon) and then starts making his way across the room to Fred, swaying his hips as he goes. His boyfriend seemed a bit surprised by the nature this was quickly taking, and even moreso when Tadashi takes his hands, lifts them up, and then twirls himself around so that he was swaying flesh up against him.

"U-Um, I thought we were learning 80's dancing?" Fred asks, cheeks going bright red.

"This is 80's dancing," Tadashi answers, feigning innocence as he playfully twirls around his boyfriend's arm. "You've never heard of the lambada before?" .

"I-Is this something you think we should really be doing with Hiro in the room?"

"I thought you wanted to learn 80's dancing from me!"

"...You're playing dirty, aren't you?"

"In more ways than one, yes."

"Fine, fine, you win this round!"

"Good!" Tadashi laughs, grinning as he finally moves away from him.

"But I'm holding you to actually teaching me how to do that properly later when we're alone," Fred puts in firmly.

"Fair enough." Tadashi grins and pecks his cheek.

Hiro, fortunately enough, seemed not to have understood the subtext of all of that, just seeming glad that Tadashi apparently gotten over his fear of dancing in front of people

"Dashi's a really good dancer, huh?" he says proudly, smiling up at Fred.

"Apparently," the fanboy chuckles, grinning over at his boyfriend.

"Oh man, I'd probably better run and take a shower real quick after all of that," Tadashi suddenly says, realizing that he'd gotten all hot and sweaty giving those impromptu dance lessons. "I don't want to look like a total mess when I'm presenting Hiro for the first time!"

"Want some help?" Fred asks with a slight grin.

"Sweet, but no," Tadashi answers, playfully rolling his eyes. "As much as I'd say yes normally, there isn't much time before the party's supposed to start and I need to get in and out quickly."  
"I can get you in and out-"  
"Fred, do NOT even finish that sentence with Hiro in the room!"

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Well that's where it was going, so NO. If you want to help, the new clothes I got for Hiro are in the lab, could you help him change into something for tonight?"

"I'd rather help you with you shower," Fed lightly pouts.

"I told you how you can help, take it or leave it."

"...Fine. But don't be surprised if some of the mochi I know you have in the freezer is gone by the time you get out."

"I can live with that," Tadashi sighs-he didn't have time to argue any further. Still, he pecks his boyfriend on the cheek to prove that there were no hard feelings before leaving the room, and Fred pecks him back to show the same before watching him go.

"So..." Hiro says after a minute to fill the silence, slightly starling the fanboy. Fred looks down at the little boy and suddenly realizes that Tadashi had just left him alone with a child-admittedly a robotic child, so he was pretty sure there wasn't too much he could do to accidentally hurt or psychologically screw up the poor kid, but he had a track record of not being good at all with children, _especially_ not younger ones. Admittedly he'd done some volunteering with a cool organization called Brother's from Other Mothers to mentor teens without father or even older brother figures in their lives, but those were teens-teens he could understand, they played video games and watched superhero movies and some of them even read comics, all things that the fanboy enjoyed. But little kids? He had absolutely no clue! True, he had done a pretty good job hanging out with Hiro last night, but Tadashi had been there to keep him from doing anything stupid. What was he supposed to do with him? Well, his boyfriend had said something about getting him dressed for the party? Fred didn't know much about clothes, but okay, hopefully he could do this!

"So, um, you want to go pick out the clothes you want to wear for tonight?" he asks, hoping that the little boy wouldn't look at him like he was stupid like a lot of his younger cousins did when they thought he was patronizing them when in reality he was just trying to find something- _anything_ -to talk to them about. Fortunately, Hiro seemed to be taking pity on him and was doing to make this as easy as possible.

"Sure!" The little boy grins up at him before heading out of the kitchen and across the living room to the lab. Fred follows gratefully after him, hoping that the task of choosing an outfit and actually getting the little boy dressed (wait, was he supposed to help him change?) would take up about the amount of time it would take Tadashi to finish with his shower.

As it turned out, the whole process didn't take as long as the fanboy had hoped-Hiro almost immediately pulled a t-shirt with a dragon on it out of the bag when the reached it (a very wise choice, Fred had to admit) and while the neither of them were fashion aficionados, it seemed like they couldn't go far wrong with a plain pair of khaki cargo shorts so that's what they chose to go with it. As it turned out, since he'd only been active for a short time and hadn't had much experience with the process yet, Hiro did need some help with changing, and while the fanboy's hands were slightly shaking the whole time for fear he might somehow do something terribly wrong, somehow they both manage to make it through the process in one piece.

"Well, that's done," Fred sighs in relief as he gently straightens the little boy's shirt, wanting to make sure that toddler looked perfect so that Tadashi would think he'd done a good job. When he checks the clock, he's sure that at least twenty minutes must have gone by, but as it turned out it had only been ten-knowing his boyfriend, the other man wouldn't be out for at least another ten minutes.

"So, um… What do you want to do?" Fred asks the toddler, hoping that the little boy might have some ideas.

"What do you want to do?" Hiro asks-it was obvious he was trying to be polite, but dammit if he wasn't making things that much harder, even if it was unintentional.

"Um… Want to watch some cartoons or something?" Fred offers-cartoons were usually a pretty safe bet with kids, right?

"Cartoons?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Oh my gosh, that's right, you haven't-!" Fred starts to say, realizing that, if last night was any indication, the little boy hadn't really had a chance to watch any cartoons yet. Well, he was just going to have to fix that. "C'mon!" the fanboy grins and scoops Hiro up into his arms like he'd seen Tadashi do before. "I think you're really going to like this!"

He wasn't sure what was actually going to be on this time of day, but they got extremely lucky-there was a Steven Universe marathon on, and Fred couldn't have chosen something better for Hiro to see as his first cartoon show. The little boy, much like the previous night, seemed absolutely fascinated with the moving pictures on the screen, and the fanboy couldn't help but cheer and laugh along with him in all the right places because, after all, he really loved this show too. He didn't ever realize just how close he and Hiro were getting until he looked down and realized that the toddler had apparently felt comfortable enough to actually climb into his lap while watching. It was a bit surprising, at first, but after taking a few breaths to calm himself, Fred couldn't help but smile-the kiddo seemed completely safe snuggling up against him like this, and it actually kind of felt nice knowing that Hiro trusted him this much. He was starting to understand why his boyfriend had already fallen so in love with the little robot-because, while he was technically a machine, the little boy seemed to be much more than a computer surrounded by mechanical pieces. Much like Baymax, maybe even moreso, the little boy seemed to have a heart of his own, maybe even some sort of soul down in there. He seemed so determined to make others happy-it seemed only right that he'd be taking care of and being taken care of himself by someone with as big a heart as Tadashi.

Fred was just daring to try stroking the boy's hair like he'd seen his boyfriend do when suddenly he remembers that he'd brought something for the little tyke.

"Hey, Hiro, I'm going to lean down for a second to grab my bag, okay?" he tells the toddler, not wanting to startle him with any sudden movements.

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, letting him know that he was prepared.

The fanboy, as carefully as he can, leans down to reach for his bag and brings it up onto the cushions next to him so he can more easily sort through it. After just a little bit, he finds exactly what he's looking for.

"This is for you," he tells the little boy with a grin, handing him a small plush Toothless that he'd actually stopped by the toy store to pick up on his way over here-with how much Hiro had loved the movie last night, it seemed like an appropriate gift, and, given the fact that the little boy was definitely showing an interest in dragons if his shirt choice was any indication, it was probably perfect for him.

"For me?" Hiro gasps, eyes wide as he carefully holds the little dragon doll, as if afraid of hurting it somehow.

"Yep, for you!" Fred agrees with a grin, loving just how excited the toddler seemed. "Do you like it?"

"Yes!" Hiro agrees, eagerly hugging the fanboy. "Thank you!"

"Of course!" Fred can't help but chuckle at that, hugging the little boy back, a warm feeling in his chest. He wasn't about to rush to any conclusions, but maybe he was starting to fall under the toddler's spell as much as his boyfriend had.

"What are you two getting up to?" Tadashi asks as he walks into the room just then, smiling as the sight of the two of them together.

"Dashi, look!" Hiro eagerly holds up the dragon for the other man to see. "Fred gave me a present!"

"He did?" Tadashi seems to be fighting a grin at that, a knowing expression on his face as he looks at the fanboy, who just slightly shrugs and grins sheepishly in response. "That was very, _very_ nice of him, Hiro. Did you tell him thank you?"

"I did!" Hiro reassures him.

"Good." Tadashi smiles and settles down next to them on the couch. Fred half expected Hiro to immediately switch over to the other man's lap, but the little boy instead just moves slightly so that he was sitting on both of them, and the fanboy couldn't help but smile at the fact that the toddler apparently liked him this much already. Maybe it was the dragon, but he had a feeling that it was more than that. As important as Tadashi was to Hiro (and as his patient he would always be his top priority), was it possible that this was the boy's way of saying that he wanted Fred too? The engineer had said something yesterday about being like Hiro's dad, and the fanboy had told him that if that's what he wanted then he'd be like the little boy's other dad. He hadn't thought about it too much since then, but sitting here, with Tadashi and Hiro, it felt… right. Like this was the way things were supposed to be. He looks down at his boyfriend, who had his head resting comfortably on the fanboy's shoulder while one arm was wrapped protectively around the toddler who was sitting in both their laps, and for a moment he could almost imagine them as their own little family. The idea of marriage and family had honestly always terrified him growing up because he'd seen what his own parents' marriage had been like, and he wanted no part of that. Meeting and falling in love with Tadashi had helped him warm up slightly to the idea, but he still wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of settling down and committing to something as serious as marriage. He knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man, but he was afraid that somehow putting something legally binding on their perfect relationship would mess it up-after all, he'd always heard people talk about how happy his parents had seemed before marriage but how miserable they'd become afterwards. He knew that there was probably more to it than that, and rationally he knew that his and Tadashi's relationship was strong enough to stand the test of time, but somehow deep down inside the fear that something might go terribly wrong haunted him.

Sitting here, though, with Tadashi and Hiro, he was starting to feel something different. Like maybe, just maybe, someday soon, he might find himself actually living here with them, a gold ring on his hand and perfectly happy to call the man he loved more than anything his husband and maybe even be able to consider this adorable little boy his son. He didn't know for sure yet. He was just starting to feel the tiny seeds of the idea in his heart beginning to sprout. But, for the first time in his life, the idea didn't sound near as scary as it always had. And that was definitely a start.


	8. Chapter 8

Tadashi honestly got so caught up in enjoying watching SU with Fred and Hiro that he completely lost track of time until he heard the sound of knocking on the door.

"Holy shi-shoot!" he cries, almost jumping out of his seat but managing to stop himself just in time to keep from accidentally flinging poor Hiro, who was still half in his lap, to the floor. "Oh my gosh, they're here!"

"What's the big deal?" Fred asks curiously.

"Because they're not supposed to see Hiro until they're all here! Help me!"

"Okay, calm down, love. You take Hiro to your workshop or your room or wherever you want him to wait and I'll answer the door as soon as you've got him out of sight."

"You'd do that?"

"Yes! Now c'mon, grab Hiro and get going!"

"Right!" Tadashi quickly scoops the little boy up into his arms and hurries over to his workshop. He quickly closes the door behind him, breathing out a sigh of relief-he had the best boyfriend ever, always there to get him out of trouble when he needed him most.

"So I wait here until everyone gets here?" Hiro asks as Tadashi gently settles him onto the floor.

"Pretty much," Tadashi admits. "I-Is that okay? If not, it's totally fine, I could stay here with you, Fred can just tell everyone I'm putting 'finishing touches' on my project!"

"No, you should go see your friends!" Hiro reassures him. "I'll be okay!"

"I feel bad leaving you here with nothing to do… Um, I could give you some paper and crayons so you could draw-would you like that?" Tadashi offers, trying to think of anything that he had here that could keep the little boy occupied without making too much noise.

"I've never drawn before," Hiro says thoughtfully. "Is it fun?"

"It is!" Tadashi reassures him. "And you don't have to worry about how good or bad you think it is, it's just supposed to be fun, no pressure!" He knew he could get a bit perfectionistic about his own drawings, which honestly weren't that great, but he tried to remind himself that all that mattered was that he was trying his hardest, and he wanted to make sure that Hiro grew up with as much confidence as possible.

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, beaming up at him. "I'll try it!"

"Okay!" Tadashi chuckles, lovingly ruffling his hair before going to fetch the paper and crayons-it was a good thing that he sometimes liked doodling to relieve stress because it meant he actually had drawing materials on hand. He lays out a few sheets of blank paper on the floor and pours the crayons out of their box so that the little boy would have an easier time getting to them. He takes a moment to demonstrate how to hold the crayon for the toddler in case he didn't know, but Hiro's computer brain or maybe just his five-year-old mentality must already have some basic ideas about drawing because within moments of picking up a crayon he was happily scribbling away.

"All right, I'll leave you to it," Tadashi tells him, standing up and heading for the door, stalling a bit before actually opening it. "If you really need me, you can come and get me, okay? Don't be worried about the others seeing you, you being okay is more important!"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, barely even looking up from his paper, apparently extremely intent on whatever he was drawing.

Tadashi pauses one more moment, watching the little boy with a warm feeling in his chest, before finally heading outside, carefully closing the door as he leaves. He'd barely taken three steps into the living room before being practically hug-tackled from behind.

"DASHI!" a familiar voice cries.

"Honey Lemon, hey!" the engineer laughs, doing his best to hug her back from the awkward position he was in.

"Oh my gosh, it's been _forever_!" the enthusiastic blonde gushes, finally releasing her hold on him just enough so that they could actually hug properly.

"I know!" Tadashi answers. "Wow, you look great! Is that sweater made from the new extra fluffy yarn that you've been working on?"

"Yep!" Honey Lemon agrees, twirling around to show off her bright pink cardigan that ever so slightly sparkled as she moved (of course everything she made had to have some sort of shimmer to it.) "You like it?"

"Definitely! It's super soft, and it looks awesome!"

"Thank you!" Honey Lemon beams with pride. "I can totally make you a sweater made out of the yarn if you'd like!"

"I may have to take you up on that," Tadashi chuckles before asking curiously, "Where's GoGo?"

"I think she's still parking the car," Honey Lemon answers. "It looks like one of your neighbors is having a party tonight too. GoGo was _not_ happy when someone cut her off, I barely managed to keep her from going to 'teach him a lesson'."

"Oh man, I didn't realize-I hope everyone manages to find parking," Tadashi sighs, realizing yet again why holding a party so last minute probably wasn't the greatest idea.

"It's okay!" Honey Lemon reassures him. "You couldn't have known, and she'll be here soon-you know it won't take her long to get here when she finds a spot to park!"

"True," Tadashi chuckles-GoGo lived up to her nickname by still being the fastest person in all of San Fransokyo, if not all of Cali or even the world. "So, how's married life?" he thinks to ask with a slight smile. "Still treating you both okay?"

"More than okay!" Honey Lemon reassures him with a grin before giggling, "GoGo says if she'd known how good it would be, she wouldn't have waited so long to propose!"

"With all the hints you dropped, I'm surprised it took her as long as it did," Tadashi notes with a small smirk.

"Well, we'll just let her think she thought of it all by herself," Honey Lemon answers with a playful wink.

"That works," Tadashi chuckles before turning as the front door opens.

"Hey." GoGo says, nodding to him and Fred as she walks in. "Tadashi, you should really talk to your neighbor about his friend's manners, if I wasn't feeling generous tonight he would have been a sidewalk pancake.

"Good to see you too," Tadashi laughs, heading over to hug her as well.

The short, raven haired woman endured his hugging with admirable patience, given her overall aversion to physical contact. Still, she'd gotten used to Tadashi's very hug-prone nature over the years so she was probably just resigned to it by now.

"So, what's new with you?" Tadashi asks when he finally lets her go. "I get updates from Honey and Abigail on you sometimes, but you don't tell me about what you've been doing as much as you used to!"

"Well, you of all people should know that Krei Tech isn't big on their employees giving out details on the projects they're working on," GoGo answers with a wry smile.

"True," Tadashi sighs. "Is there anything you can tell me about?"

"Not really, except that Abigail and I are collaborating on a few things," GoGo replies with a small shrug-they both worked for the transportation division of Krei Tech, so given they got along so well they often paired up to work on projects.

"Well, as long as you're doing okay," Tadashi says with a warm smile.

"I'd say something if I wasn't, and you know it-I don't keep that kind of stuff inside, unlike you, you nerd," GoGo answers, lightly punching his arm. It might have come off as a bit insensitive to most people, but Tadashi knew that it was her way of checking to making sure he was doing okay-she could always tell when he was trying to avoid talking about something that was making him miserable or was trying to keep quiet about something that was bugging him, and he appreciated her brunt, no-nonsense way of calling him out when he was doing something that might be hurting himself.

"Don't worry," Tadashi reassures her. "I'm doing good-really, really good, actually."

GoGo stares him down for a minute, giving him the piercing gaze that he was sure could see right into his soul-it was still unnerving how she could do that. Finally she nods, as if satisfied at least for the moment that he was telling the truth. "Good."

After that, everyone moved onto simpler small talk, just chatting about anything and everything they could think of until the others arrived. Abigail was the next to arrive, and as usual Tadashi enthusiastically greeted her with a hug-maybe a bit tighter than he usually gave the others, but for a good reason. As much as Professor Callaghan was like a surrogate father to him, Abigail, as the professor's daughter, had always been like the older sister (or _oneesan_ , as he liked to call her) that he'd never had, and four years ago he'd almost lost her. Working for Krei Tech wasn't without risk, especially when you were testing new and experimental technology. Abigail had been working on a portal transportation project-the only reason Tadashi knew about it was because Professor Callaghan had managed to get him entrance for the day it was to be put to test for the first time, with Abigail as the test pilot of the pod that was to go through the portals. Right before the test, there were some irregular readings coming from the portal, but Krei had almost sent Abigail in anyways. Tadashi, though, who had snuck down nearer to the command center from the observation deck where he was supposed to be, saw the readings and started arguing with Krei, telling him that there was no way he could send Abigail in there with readings like that. Even if he wasn't sure he had fully convinced him, those precious few seconds of arguing had kept Abigail's pod from entering the portal before it became completely unstable. They were able to shut the portal down before the damage could get too bad, but for a few horrible minutes they thought that Abigail might have gotten sucked in all the same. By some miracle, she hadn't been, and to this day both she and Professor Callaghan said that Tadashi was responsible for saving her life-Tadashi wasn't sure he agreed, but mainly he was just grateful that she was alive. The government officials who had been there to observe the portals had shut the program down immediately and also began putting tougher restrictions and safeguards on Krei Tech to ensure that such close calls didn't happen in the future. That was probably the only reason Tadashi had actually entrusted Baymax to Krei Tech-that, and he did have the added bonus that Krei was trying to do whatever he could to make sure that Tadashi didn't go public with the portal story. While the then-college student knew he could probably never get anywhere in the courts against Krei Tech's legal team even if he wanted to do something about it, he was able to call in a favor or two in order to get Baymax reviewed by the board of directors. Tadashi hated the idea of using what was essentially blackmail and capitalizing on Abigail's near death experience in order to get his invention into production, and he spent months agonizing over the decision. But it was Abigail who told him that she was going to be damned if he didn't take this opportunity and that if he didn't bring Baymax to the company then she would-she felt Krei Tech owed both of them big time so they might as well take advantage of it. That's part of how she helped both GoGo and Wasabi get their positions at the company-the company was doing anything it could to keep her quiet too and she was milking it for all it was worth, despite her father constantly expressing his wishes that she'd leave the company altogether. She would always argue back that the best way to make sure nothing like the portal incident ever happened again was to stay in the company and keep an eye on things, so the two had finally agreed to disagree (not that they weren't known to argue over it almost every time they were together.)

By the time that Tadashi and Abigail were just about finished with enthusiastically exchanging their latest news, Wasabi arrived, which led to yet another round of hellos and hugs (the hugs again mostly coming from Tadashi-as much of a germaphobe as Wasabi was, he wasn't big on physical contact either, but like everyone else in the Nerd Herd he had come to accept Tadashi hugging everyone at least once during every visit, if not more, as a fact of life.) They spent the next little bit talking about Wasabi's latest research on using laser technology to safely reduce the amount of germs and bacteria on surfaces (since his work wasn't quite as top secret as the GoGo's and Abigail's, which sometimes had military applications, he was a bit freer to discuss it.) Still, as Tadashi checks the time and sees that almost an hour had passed since everyone had arrived (he hoped that Hiro was still doing okay), he couldn't help but feel a bit concerned that his mentor hadn't arrived yet.

"Abigail, have you heard from your dad today?" he asks, hating to break into her conversation with Honey Lemon but unable to quell his mounting sense of worry.

"Yeah, I did actually," Abigail answers. "He texted to tell me that he was coming tonight-I offered to give him a ride, but he told me he'd be fine on his own. Stubborn old goat-his old leg injury from the war always acts up when it's cold, but he'll never own up to it."

"Do you think he'll be okay driving?" Tadashi asks, fretting slightly. "Maybe I should call and ask him if he needs me to pick him up…"

"I'm not quite decrepit yet, despite what all of you seem to think," a voice says from the front entryway.

" _Sensei!_ " Tadashi practically beams as he almost races across the living room to embrace his mentor. "Oh my gosh, you're here!"

"Of course I'm here," Callaghan answers, chuckling as he hugs the younger man back, his arms still as strong as when Tadashi had been a little boy and had needed his comfort and encouragement for much lesser things.

"Thank you for coming," Tadashi says softly. "This means so much to me."

"Like I said earlier-I wouldn't miss it for the world," Callaghan tells him firmly as he gently lets him go.

"Still." Tadashi gives him a grateful grin before eagerly tugging him towards the living room, almost feeling like he was five years old again and getting ready to show his adopted dad one of his knew projects and hoping to receive his approval-things honestly hadn't changed that much over all of these years, even if Tadashi had grown quite a lot since then.

There was the standard round of greetings exchanged as the professor joins their group-most if not all of them had taken a class under Callaghan at SFIT at some point, and he'd become something of a mentor to all of them even if they weren't in his degree program, offering advice about college and life in general as well as the occasional cup of coffee or tea when he knew that they were burning the candle at both ends. Still, as soon as everyone had said "Hello", the mood in the room almost palpably shifted-it was obvious that everyone was excited to see this project that their friend had been working on and, more importantly, keeping a secret for so long.

"All right, so, I guess it's time to get down to what I invited all of you here tonight to see," Tadashi says as conversations trail off and all eyes turn to him-he felt a bit nervous, but in a mostly good way. This was probably the kindest audience he could have wished for, and they were all people who loved and cared about him so he knew none of them would tell him anything that they didn't think was in his best interests.

"Well, given you've been keeping us all in suspense for over a year, hell yeah we want to see whatever it is that you've been working on like a madman in here," GoGo answers with a smirk, making the others laugh.

"Okay, I guess I deserve that," Tadashi chuckles. "Still, I promise that the wait was worth it-or, at least, I hope it was."

"Oh, trust me, it was!" Fred puts in reassuringly. "No one's going to be leaving here disappointed!"

"Well, that's good enough for me!" Honey Lemon giggles.

"C'mon, Dashi, show us-we're all dying to see, some of us possibly literally!" Abigail says encouragingly, flashing her father a playful grin.

"I'm not quite that old yet, young lady," Callaghan answers with a sigh, shaking his head at her.

"All right-just give me a minute to go get him!" Tadashi says, trying to swallow down the mixture of excitement and anxiety that were churning in his stomach and threatening to make their way up his throat.

"Him? Okay, now I'm really curious," Wasabi admits, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you'll just have to hold out for one more minute," Tadashi laughs, heading over to his lab and entering, being careful to not let them see inside as he slips through the barely cracked door and closes it behind him-as much as he'd deny it if called on it, he was definitely a showman when it came down to it and couldn't resist building the suspense for just a little bit longer. That, and he wanted to check and make sure that Hiro was still doing all right before bringing him out to meet everyone.

"Hey bud," he says softly, smiling when he sees that the little boy was still diligently coloring away on the floor. "You doing okay in here?"

"Mm!" Hiro grins as he looks up at him, enthusiastically nodding his head. "I had a lot of fun drawing!"

"Did you?" Tadashi couldn't help but feel his heart melting all over again as he looks down at the toddler. "Can I see what you've been making?"

"Yeah!" Hiro eagerly agrees, scooping up his papers and handing them to Tadashi. "What do you think?"

"W-What do I think?" Tadashi gasps as he stares down at the drawings in front of him in awe-they were absolutely perfect sketches of himself, of Fred, of Aunt Cass, and even one of Hiro being held by Tadashi. Of course he should have realized that Hiro, as a robot with a computer brain, probably would have the ability to create really amazing artwork, but that didn't make him any less proud of the little boy.

"A-Are they not very good?" Hiro asks nervously, apparently interpreting the older man's surprise for disapproval.

"What? No! Oh my gosh, Hiro, no, of course not! They are _amazing_!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him.

"Really?" Hiro grins hopefully up at him.

"Absolutely! I-I'm probably going to get these framed and put them up, they're that good!" Tadashi answers honestly.

"Yeah?" Hiro was practically beaming now.

"Yes." Tadashi leans down to playfully kiss his nose, making the little boy giggle, before carefully setting the pictures on the desk. "Okay, so I promise I will get back to those soon. But for now, are you ready to go out and meet everyone?"

"Uh huh!" Hiro agrees, eagerly nodding his head.

"All right." Tadashi can't help but laugh at the little boy's enthusiasm before reaching down to gently squeeze his hand, both to encourage the toddler and for a bit of encouragement for himself. "Let's go out together, okay?"

"Okay!" Hiro happily squeezes back.

Tadashi takes one final deep breath before opening the door and stepping out into the living room.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hey guys! So, posting this chapter a bit early since I'm heading out on a trip to go see my best friend tomorrow and I don't know how much I'll be on while I'm gone. I should be back by next Friday so updates should continue as usual as of next week! All the best to all of you, and thank you guys sooo much for the feedback, it's so great getting to hear from all of you! Hiro sends his love! :)_

0o0

There was a minute of shocked silence as Tadashi walks out into the living room, hand-in-hand with a little boy who, to everyone gathered except maybe Fred (and maybe even to him, even though he knew the truth), probably looked exactly like the son he had never had. He figured that when the surprise passed, there would be all sorts of questions so he could quickly put any fears they might have to rest or maybe even mess with them for a little bit depending on the mood of their responses. When the silence stretched on for a bit longer than was comfortable, though, he begins to think he should probably skip waiting to hear everyone's reactions and just go quickly into the explanation of who and what exactly Hiro was. Just as he was opening his mouth to do so, though, GoGo finally speaks.

"T-Tadashi, who the heck is this?!" she splutters. "Did you have a kid all this time and never told us about him?!"

"Oh my gosh, Dashi!" Honey Lemon cries, eyes wide. "Did you and Fred go to a surrogate? Is this is your son?"

"That would make more sense than GoGo's theory, he's too gay to have knocked up a girl," Abigail laughs. "But how long ago would he and Fred have had to have gone to a surrogate? This kid looks four, five maybe-they've barely been dating that long!"

"What? Guys, no! I-It's not what it looks like!" Tadashi protests-he'd somewhat expected this response, but not to this level! "Hiro isn't my son! Well, at least not biologically? It's kind of complicated…"

"Did you adopt?" Wasabi asks, frowning slightly in confusion. "If so, why didn't you tell us about it?"

"I-" Wow, this was getting entirely out of hand, and way, way too fast… Tadashi was about to try to explain again, but then he notices Professor Callaghan frowning thoughtfully before kneeling down so that he was on Hiro's level.

"Hi!" the little boy greets him, flashing him a his usual gap-toothed grin.

"Hello there, little one," Callaghan answers, a warm smile crossing his face. "What's your name?"

"Hiro!" Hiro answers brightly, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Are you Tadashi's _sensei_?"

"That is what he likes to call me, yes," Callaghan chuckles before reaching out to touch the little boy's arm, fingers hovering just above his soft skin. "May I?" he asks.

"Mm hm!" Hiro agrees with a nod, and the professor gently brushes his fingers across the toddler's wrist before touching his hand, making the little boy giggle and playfully wrap his tiny fingers around one of the older man's much larger ones.

"Incredible," Callaghan says softly. "He looks and feels completely real."

"Well, you can thank Honey Lemon for helping me develop the skin and the hair," Tadashi tells him with a slight smile-credit where credit was due, after all-glad that someone finally seemed to understand.

"O-Oh my gosh!" Honey Lemon gasps, hands flying to her mouth and eyes going wide. "H-He's-? T-That's why you wanted help with all of that?"

"Yep," Tadashi chuckles, enjoying how hilariously confused everyone who hadn't figured it out yet looked.

Probably because she'd grown up surrounded by engineers, Abigail was the next to catch on. "W-Wait, he's-?!"

"He is!" Tadashi agrees, lovingly ruffling the little boy's hair, the toddler grinning happily back up at him. "Everyone, this is HIRO-a healing-interfacing robotic operating system. He's an emotional and psychological companion, kind of like a service animal, only more human."

"Wait, the kid's a robot?" GoGo asks in disbelief.

"H-How?!" Wasabi cries.

"Well, it took pretty much everything I knew about robotics and then some-I had to consult experts in a lot of different fields to get all of his parts right," Tadashi explains with a slight smile. "But it was definitely worth it. He just came online… a day or two ago, depending on how you look at it? And they've kind of been two of the most amazing days of my life."

"Aw, that's so sweet, Dashi!" Honey Lemon beams at him before beaming down at the little boy. "He's amazing!"

"He is," Tadashi chuckles, smiling proudly at the toddler before adding, "You can totally talk to him if you want to-even if he's technically a robot, he's pretty much a real person. Think Baymax, only more talkative and more understanding of human phrases."

"Well, if no one else wants to try, I'll do it," Abigail says when no one else automatically volunteers. "So, you're name is Hiro, huh?" She smiles as she crouches down to be face-to-face with the little boy.

"Uh huh!" Hiro answers before considering her face and saying, "Are you… Abigail?"

"Yeah!" Abigail agrees, blinking in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Your pin-Dashi told me how you always wear your pilot wings!" Hiro replies, giving her his trademark adorable gap-toothed grin.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive that you noticed that," Abigail tells him, a smile making its way onto her face. "So Tadashi told you about me?"

"Yeah!" Hiro nods before looking about at all of the others. "He told me about all of his friends!"

"Aw, really?" Honey Lemon beams at that. "So do you know who I am?"

"Honey Lemon!" Hiro answers after glancing her over for the briefest of moments. "'Cause you have pink glasses and really pretty long hair!"

"Right!" Honey Lemon agrees eagerly.

"She's GoGo, 'cause she has purple in her hair and she's wearing a leather jacket," Hiro declares, looking at the woman standing next to her. "And that must be 'Sabi 'cause he has the really cool dreadlocks!"

"Wow, the kid's good," GoGo chuckles before glancing over at Tadashi. "I don't know if we should be concerned that you were talking to your emotional healthcare robot about us, though…"

"Don't worry, it was all good things!" Tadashi reassures her.

"Should we be asking why you built an emotional healthcare robot in the first place?" Abigail asks suddenly, a small frown on her face.

"I-I just thought that it was the next step after making Baymax, y'know?" Tadashi answers, trying not to flinch-he knew that these questions would be coming, but that didn't make it any easier.

"I for one think that it's a marvelous idea," Callaghan quickly puts in. "Can you tell us a bit more about how he works?"

He couldn't know for sure, but Tadashi was pretty sure the professor had just thrown him a lifeline, and he gratefully grabs onto it, starting to spout off anything that came to mind about the robot. If anyone knew how hard it was for him to talk about the not so pretty side of his personal life, it was Callaghan-not only had the older man been there for him in all those difficult years after losing his parents (who had been almost like family to Callaghan as well), the professor had lost countless friends while he'd been in the service and even his own wife to cancer shortly after Abigail had been born so he knew how hard it was to talk about loss and the messy emotions that came with it. That's why he never pushed his adopted son to talk about things he didn't want to talk about and came to his rescue when he felt that someone else was prying a little too far, even if it was meant well.

As Tadashi rambles on, he realizes that Hiro must have noticed that something was off too, because the little boy takes one of his hands in his own, gently squeezing it for reassurance. The older man gratefully smiles down at him-between Callaghan and Hiro, hopefully he was going to get through this okay.

"Hiro, how about you tell the guys a little bit about yourself!" Fred puts in brightly-and there he was, regular as clockwork coming in to help save his boyfriend from this situation too with a well-timed diversion. He'd been keeping quiet so far, letting Tadashi have his moment in the spotlight, but now that he needed him him he was going to make sure that he didn't have to talk about anything he wasn't comfortable with either, and the other man flashes him a grateful smile for it.

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, apparently guessing what Fred was going for (he was built to be able to assess people's true feelings and motivations as an emotional/healthcare companion, after all) and taking advantage of it to keep his patient from being forced to talk about anything he wasn't comfortable with. As the little boy starts happily chatting up the others, he gives Fred a chance to pull Tadashi off to the kitchen under the pretense of "going to check on something" (which wasn't the food everyone probably assumed the fanboy was talking about, but just as if not more important.)

"You alright?" Fred asks softly once they're in the kitchen and safely out of hearing range of the others.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Tadashi reassures him. "Thanks for stepping in like that to help me."

"Of course." Fred lovingly pecks his forehead.

"I definitely owe Callaghan and Hiro a big 'thank you' too…" Tadashi notes, letting out a sigh as he tries to tell his body and mind to just relax but finding that they weren't exactly listening like they should.

"You know all of us are always glad to be here for you whenever we can," Fred reassures him, wrapping his arms tightly around him.

"I know," Tadashi answers, hating that he almost felt like crying right now-why was he so sensitive about all of this after all these years?

"It's okay if it still hurts," Fred tells him softly-after all these years, he at least somewhat knew what was going on when his boyfriend got like this, even if Tadashi usually didn't open up about what was going on inside.

Tadashi just silently nods into his chest, just focusing on breathing deeply and the feeling of his boyfriend's arms around him. Eventually he was able to calm down some-at least enough to know he hopefully wouldn't have a meltdown if he went back out there with the others.

"C'mon, we should go check on Hiro," he says, starting to pull away from the other man.

"Are you sure?" Fred asks, still looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Tadashi reassures him.

"All right," Fred finally concedes. "But if you start feeling bad again, just let me know, okay?"

"I will," Tadashi promises.

"Okay then." Fred gently squeezes his hand before leading him back into the living room.

As soon as they walk back in, Tadashi sees Hiro's eyes light up, the little boy looking extremely relieved to see him. The older man knew that the toddler hadn't followed him into the kitchen in order to keep the others' focus off of him, but now that he was back the boy didn't seem to be able to have the patience to just keep acting as a distraction and he practically races across the room to him, crying, "Dashi!"

"Hey!" Tadashi grins as he scoops the little boy up into his arms.

"Are you okay?" Hiro whispers softly in his ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tadashi hurries to reassure him.

"I'm sorry I didn't come with you," Hiro mumbles, looking slightly worried. "But I didn't want them following you and Fred went with you so I thought you'd be okay… Are you mad?"

"What? No, of course I'm not mad!" Tadashi answers firmly. "You did the right thing-you had a hard choice to make and you did what you thought was best, and no one can fault you for that!"

"Yeah?" Hiro flashes him a grateful smile.

"Yeah," Tadashi agrees, lovingly ruffling his hair before carrying him back over to join the others.

"Everything okay in the kitchen?" GoGo asks. "You were gone a long time."

"Yeah, it's fine-I've got it back under control," Tadashi answers vaguely although with maybe a bit more honesty than he'd originally intended. "So, what do you guys think of Hiro?" he asks, wanting to get the attention off of himself.

"He's amazing!" Honey Lemon gushes. "He's so cute!"

"I swear it's like talking to a real kid-only he's a lot less messy, so he kind of has an advantage on them," Wasabi chuckles.

"He's an inspired creation, Tadashi," Callaghan agrees with a warm smile. "You should be very proud of him."

"Thank you." Tadashi beams back at him, cuddling the little boy close.

"So, what's your next step with him?" Wasabi asks curiously. "Are you planning on trying to market him like Baymax, or…?"

"I'm not really sure yet," Tadashi answers hesitantly-as much as he understood why everyone was always curious to know what his long term plan was, he wished they'd stop asking about it around Hiro and potentially making the little boy self-conscious. "I think we're just going to keep going to see how he does keeping me company in my day-to-day life for now, get him adjusted to the world, and go from there."  
"Speaking of getting him adjusted to the world," Fred cuts in smoothly-how did he always know exactly when his boyfriend needed a save?-"we've been trying to introduce him to new things-y'know, food, movies, all that good stuff. So who feels like showing him how to play some board games?"

"Oh my gosh, board game night!" Honey Lemon happily sing songs.

"We haven't done that in forever," GoGo agrees, a slight smile making it's way onto her face. "Heck, let's do it."

"C'mon, help me go raid the board game closet! Hiro, you can come help us choose!" Fred laughs, gently taking the little boy from Tadashi before gesturing for the others to follow him. Most of them did, with Callaghan opting to go start setting extra chairs up around the table instead of getting caught in the craziness of trying to pick out the best games for the occasion. Tadashi expected Abigail to go with the others given she was pretty intense about her gaming, but he was surprised when she hung back, a slightly uncomfortable look on her face.

"You okay?" he asks, thinking that something must be wrong.

"I just… Look, when I asked if there was a reason you built Hiro earlier, I didn't mean to pry, and I'm sorry if I made it sound like I was," the woman answers, awkwardly rubbing her arm. "It's just… You're like my little bro, and I want to make sure that you're okay. You never have to tell me anything you don't want to, but just know that I'm here if you need me, okay?"

"Trust me, I know," Tadashi reassures her, grateful that she was trying to make amends for putting him in a tight spot earlier.

"I love you, you big nerd." Abigail wraps him in a tight hug.

"Love you too, onee-chan," Tadashi answers, hugging her back tightly-he may have grown taller than her over the years, but that never meant he was going to stop being her little bro.

Soon the others return with a stack of board games that they obviously wouldn't get through but that they going to try their damn hardest to anyways. Some of the group doubted that Hiro would be able to understand some of the more complex games, but Tadashi reassured them that he was definitely smart enough to do so, and the little boy quickly proved him right, absolutely excelling at all of the games and having a great time doing so. Tadashi was a bit worried if things might take a negative turn because of that since most of the group (especially GoGo) were very competitive when it came to board games, but apparently Hiro's cuteness was enough to keep anyone from getting too riled up. Heck, some of them were so won over that ended up sharing some of their techniques for winning with the toddler, and he in turn explained ways his computer brain had come up with to make winning easier as well.

As much as they all would have played all night if they could, the nerds weren't the college students they'd used to be and so eventually they have to start saying their goodnights so that they could get home while still awake enough to drive. Everyone made a point of saying goodbye to Hiro, promising to come by and visit as often as they could (Tadashi had the definite feeling that he'd be having a lot more house guests than usual in the months and even years to follow thanks to the new addition to his little family.) Honey Lemon made the engineer promise to bring Hiro by as soon as he could so that she could get some measurements to start making new outfits for the toddler, and he agreed, trying not to laugh at the fact that his earlier prediction had finally come true.

Eventually everyone had finally left except for Fred, leaving him and Tadashi to cleaning up the party while Hiro helped as much as he could. The engineer couldn't help but notice just how late it was getting and, when it finally hits midnight, he asks the other man, "Hey, are you going to be okay driving home tonight?"

"Well…" Fred answers slowly, "I was thinking that maybe I could spend the night, if that's okay with you?"

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Tadashi agrees automatically with a grin-he would never turn down a chance to have his boyfriend stay over-only to wince as the reality of the situation hit him. "Oh… Um, I don't mind you staying over, it's just…" He glances over at Hiro and says softly to the fanboy, "Hiro's kind of taken to sleeping with me-he doesn't like staying alone on his charger overnight, and I know he'd probably say he was okay with it if I asked him, but I don't like the idea of leaving him by himself in the workshop just so we…" He honestly didn't want to have to choose between the two of them-didn't want either of them to feel neglected-but he wasn't sure there was a way to make both of them happy.

Fred seemed to be considering the problem, frowning slightly in concentration, and then he finally says with a slight shrug, "Why doesn't Hiro sleep with us?"

"Wait, what?" Tadashi asks, slightly taken aback.

"That probably didn't come out right," Fred apologizes. "I didn't mean he'd be staying with us if we were doing anything non-child friendly! But sometimes if kids have nightmares and stuff, they sleep in their parents' bed, right? If we were both wearing pajamas and honestly just sleeping with maybe a little bit of cuddling, I don't see why all three of us couldn't stay together!"

"Y-You wouldn't mind?" Tadashi asks, slightly surprised not only that Fred was actually okay with not being intimate tonight for the sake of the little boy, but that he was yet again phrasing his words in the context of them being a family-of the two of them being Hiro's parents. Was this just wishful thinking that maybe this was the fanboy's way of telling him that he was ready for the next step? Was he reading into this too much? Tadashi honestly wasn't sure, but he was too afraid to push for more for fear that he might cross a line that would take things too far and scare his boyfriend off.

"Not at all." Fred gently pecks his forehead in response before turning to the little boy in the room with them. "Hiro, would you mind it if I was with you and Dashi tonight?"

"Nuh uh!" Hiro answers, actually grinning at the idea.

"Well then, it's settled!" Fred grins back at him and then at the other man in the room with them. "It's getting late-you think you're ready to head to bed now?"

"I t-think so," Tadashi answers, still not sure exactly what had just happened but not wanting to fight it if things were going the way that he hoped.

"C'mon, then!" Fred beams and pecks him on the cheek again before going to scoop Hiro up into his arms. "You want some help getting ready for bed, little guy?"

"Mm!" Hiro agrees before looking over at his maker. "Dashi, are you coming too?"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" Tadashi reassures him, still in a bit of shock but hurrying after them as they head towards the bedroom. But half an hour later he found himself climbing into bed, both him and Fred in pajama pants and t-shirts and the toddler with them dressed in the new pj's Tadashi had gotten him earlier that day. As Hiro happily nuzzles up against his chest and Fred wraps his arms around both of them, Tadashi can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, as strange as this all was right now, maybe this could become their new "normal". He honestly wouldn't mind that-getting to be with both of the guys he loved (in very different ways, but both just as strongly) on a regular basis. With a slight smile on his lips as he curls up against his boyfriend and his eyelids start growing heavy, he sends up a silent wish that maybe this crazy but wonderful dream might actually come true.


	10. Chapter 10

When Tadashi awoke the next morning, he felt so warm and comfortable that he didn't ever want to leave the bed. In fact, he just lay there for a full five minutes before finally realizing that Fred and Hiro were no longer in the bed with him. A small part of him wondered if he should be worried, but logically he knew that there probably wasn't that much trouble that they could have gotten up to this early. And when he becomes aware of the sound of noises coming from the kitchen, he had a pretty good idea of what they were doing.

It took him another five minutes to actually get himself up and out of bed, and when he does he kind of half-stumbles to the kitchen (game night must have taken more out of him than he'd realized, he could only hope that Fred had made some coffee for him.)

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" the fanboy greets him when he sees the other man coming in the door.

"Morning…" Tadashi answers, fighting back a yawn.

"I thought you were never going to get up, and now that you have I'm still not sure you're actually awake," Fred chuckles.

"Shut up and don't talk to me until I've had my caffeine," Tadashi quietly grumbles, heading over to where the coffee pot was mercifully already plugged in and grabbing a mug.

"Okay, fair enough, I should know better than to try to talk to you before your morning coffee," Fred laughs.

"You should," Tadashi agrees, pouring the hot drink into his cup and gratefully inhaling the warm vapors coming off of it.

"Feeling better?" Fred asks once he's given his boyfriend adequate time to get some caffeine into his system.

"A bit," Tadashi answers with a slight smile, his mood slightly better now that he was more awake. "Thanks, love."

"Of course." Fred lovingly pecks his cheek.

"So, did you sleep okay last night?"

"Yeah, definitely! You?"

"Pretty good."

"You didn't have any nightmares?"

Tadashi was slightly surprised to hear Hiro asking the question-honestly he'd been so out of it that he'd almost forgotten that the little boy was there. Still, once he gets over his initial surprise, he answers, "None that I can remember." Wow, that really was progress-only two nights of nightmares after a pretty major trigger? Usually the dreams went on a lot longer than that-not that he was complaining, he hated those things with a fiery passion, but it was a bit unusual. He couldn't help but wonder if it was Hiro or maybe Fred who had caused the change-possibly a combination of the two.

"So, what have you guys been working on?" the engineer asks curiously, smelling something absolutely amazing coming from the oven.

"Blueberry muffins!" Hiro declares proudly. "Fred showed me how to make them!"

"Wow, that's amazing!" Tadashi beams at both of them. "I'm sure they're going to be delicious!"

"Of course they are-we made them!" Fred chuckles.

"Can't argue with that." Tadashi lightly pecks his lips.

"So, what are we doing today?" Hiro asks curiously a little while later as they sit around the table enjoying their breakfast.

"I hadn't really thought about that," Tadashi admits-in the excitement of the little boy activating introducing him to everyone, he hadn't really thought about the days ahead. As an inventor, he didn't really have a set schedule-he just worked on his inventions as inspiration struck him. But given Hiro was in the testing phase now and needed to be put into a number of different environments to see how he reacted to them, he probably needed to come up with some sort of schedule to help make sure that the proper amount of testing took place...

Yet again, Hiro surprised him by saying something completely unexpected. "Can we go to the park?"

"The park?" Tadashi repeats, momentarily caught off guard and not really processing what the little boy had said.

"Mm." Hiro nods, going slightly shy. "Y-You gave me memories of different places in the city… I've wanted to visit the park for a really, really long time, it looks like so much fun!"

"Well then, of course we can go to the park!" Tadashi answers, lovingly ruffling the toddler's hair-how could he turn down something as cute as that?

"Yeah?" Hiro grins hopefully up at him.

"Absolutely!" Tadashi reassures him.

"Can Fred come too?"

"If he wants to, sure! But I know he might be busy with his writing today so if he is-"

"Nope, I'm good!" Fred reassures them both. "I actually got a lot of work in yesterday before the party so I can at least afford a couple hours off to go with you guys!"

"Yay!" Hiro beams at him. "I like getting to spend time with both of you!"

"I like getting to spend time with you too, little guy," Fred answers with a grin.

"So, should we get going?" Tadashi asks, honestly almost as eager as Hiro now that they had their plan in place.

"Well, let's all finish getting ready for the day and then we can go," Fred gently corrects him.

"Oh, right!" Tadashi gives an embarrassed laugh at that. "Guess we probably shouldn't go to the park in our PJ's…"

"Probably not," Fred agrees, lovingly pecking his cheek before standing up. "C'mon, let's go take care of that, and then we can start our adventure!"

It was a beautiful day outside-only a few fluffy white clouds in the bright blue sky, a soft breeze making the day pleasantly cool. If the weather hadn't been as nice, they might have driven to the park, but as it was they decided to just walk the short distance. Tadashi still couldn't help but worry a bit about Hiro getting worn out since he hadn't charged again the previous night and the little boy was used to being carried most places since the older man was so overprotective of him. But then the engineer forces himself to remember that Hiro had done just fine when they'd gone shopping for groceries and clothes the day before when he'd been on a similar amount of charge and so he would probably be fine. He'd just have to make sure to charge him when they got home (and he makes a mental note to start working on that portable charger as soon as he can.) As it was, Hiro seems to really enjoy the walk, marveling at all the unique houses and yards that they passed (it was an older neighborhood, so some of their older neighbors had very interesting ideas about decorations, like Ms. Richardson who had a lawn full of gnomes she had collected from all over the world.) And the little boy practically had a system overload when they passed someone walking their dog-he'd never met an actual animal before (Tadashi realized that he still needed to introduce him to Mochi, Aunt Cass' cat), and so encountering a big german shepherd that was as tall as he was was both awe inspiring and, admittedly, just a tiny bit terrifying him. The nice man walking the dog, though, reassured him that his furry friend (who had the unique name of "Chopper") was just a big teddy bear, even though he was a retired police dog. Hiro honestly still wasn't sure how to react to the animal, but when the dog starts playfully licking his face he can't help but giggle and smile. Soon they were happily playing with each other, and Tadashi feels like his heart was glowing watching the cuteness. Still,he knew that the other man probably had places to be and so he gently reminds the little boy of that. Hiro was sad to have to leave his new friend, but he didn't put up too much of a fuss, just hugging the dog goodbye before willingly continuing on with Fred and Tadashi to the park.

The playground was, to Tadashi's mind, fortunately pretty empty when they got there-as much as he knew socializing with other kids was probably a good thing for Hiro to be doing as an emotional companion, he didn't want him getting overwhelmed. As it was, the little boy seemed a bit nervous at first as the two older men lead him around the playground, showing him how everything worked, sticking close to Tadashi and even once hiding behind his legs if someone got too close. This was something the engineer hadn't accounted for-Hiro was perfectly at ease when interacting with adults, but when it came to children his own age apparently he was a lot less outgoing. Either that was an oversight in his design, or maybe he just took after his maker a lot more than Tadashi had intended (the older man had always been more at ease around adults than children in his own age when he was growing up too.) Still, it seemed like the other kids on the playground weren't having that-as far as Tadashi could tell, the majority were all from one family since a good number of them kept running up to one set of parents to talk to them about the million things that kids feel necessary to tell their caretakers while at the playground (that they'd skinned their knee, that their brother was picking on them, that yet another brother was trying to eat dirt because a different brother had dared them to-the fun things that children get up to.) Both parents took all of this in stride and with exceptionally good grace, making Tadashi almost envy their parenting skills-he couldn't help but wonder how they managed so many kids with such apparent ease, especially given he was pretty sure most of the kids weren't biologically theirs just based on how different they all looked. Whatever the case, all of the kids seemed really happy together, even if they were fighting like siblings often did, and all of them seemed to be showing at least some sort of interest in the shy newcomer. The one little girl in the group seemed especially curious, and eventually she makes her way across the playground and over to Hiro, an adorably determined look on her face.

"Hi!" she says when she reaches the other little boy.

"Hello…" Hiro answers shyly, one of his hands curled up in the fabric of Tadashi's jeans.

"I'm Katie, but everyone calls me Pidge," the little girl introduces herself. "What's your name?"

"Hiro…" Hiro replies quietly.

"Do you want to play with me?" Pidge asks-apparently she was extremely direct with what she wanted (she almost reminded Tadashi of GoGo a little bit.)

"Um…" Hiro turns to the two older men standing behind him for guidance.

"Hey, you should go-have fun, make some new friends!" Fred says encouragingly.

"Dashi?" Hiro looks to the engineer for confirmation.

"If you want to play, you can definitely go play," Tadashi reassures him.

"O-Okay…" Hiro still looked a bit uncertain, but by now Pidge was eagerly tugging on his hand and so he follows her across the playground to where all of the kids that were assumedly her siblings were waiting for the two to join them. Almost as soon as the pair reached them, the other children took no time in introducing themselves and then inviting Hiro to play tag with them. The little robot seemed nervous when he admitted that he didn't really know how to play, and Tadashi couldn't help but be worried that the others might make fun of him for lacking in what was to them probably very basic knowledge. But, to his great relief and almost amazement, instead of reacting negatively, the other kids actually seem excited to get to teach Hiro the rules of the game, and within minutes they were all playing it together, several of the kids pairing up with the newcomer to make sure that he didn't get tagged "it" right away and feel frustrated.

"See?" Fred says to his boyfriend standing next to him, gently laying a hand on his shoulder. "He's doing fine-you can breathe now, love."

"Sorry." Tadashi flashes him an apologetic smile. "But can you blame me for being a bit worried about him?"

"No, and it's sweet," Fred reassures him. "Just try to relax-it's a beautiful day, he's happy, we should be enjoying this."

"You're right," Tadashi sighs, forcing himself to take a deep breath before gently curling his hand around his boyfriend's.

"Of course I'm right," Fred answers playfully. "I'm always right!"

"Not always," Tadashi replies, rolling his eyes slightly, "but most of the time."

"I would argue that, but I'll take what I can get!" Fred laughs.

"A wise decision," Tadashi chuckles, lovingly pecking him on the cheek before going back to happily watching Hiro. He got so caught up in watching the little boy that he didn't notice the woman standing near him and Fred, also watching the children on the playground with a warm smile, until she finally turns to him and says,

"I'll take it the little one in the blue t-shirt is yours?"

"What? Oh, yes," Tadashi answers-it took him a moment to realize that she was actually talking to him, but once he did he knew that he needed to be polite, even if he wasn't much better at talking to strangers around his own age than Hiro was.

"He's certainly cute," the woman says with a warm smile.

"Thank you!" Tadashi grins back at her-despite his social awkwardness, any compliment about the little boy was sure to get someone on his good side.

"Is one of those little guys yours?" Fred asks curiously, looking out at the children on the playground.

"Oh, no," the woman replies with a quiet sigh, a wistful look on her face. "My husband and I have tried, but thanks to an injury I sustained back when I was flying planes in the air force, it's just… not possible for us to have a child of our own."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Tadashi gasps, eyes going wide.

"Don't be." the woman hurries to reassure him. "It's the sort of risk that comes with being in the service. I'm grateful for everything I was able to do to help innocent people stay safe during my time in the air force, and I couldn't be prouder of my husband for being willing to go out every day and help protect this city as on officer. If some sacrifices had to be made, well… it's not the end of the world. We've talked about adoption, and we both like the idea of maybe giving a deserving kid a good home. We haven't found a place that feels 'right' just yet, but we're still hopeful."

"You should be!" Fred says with a warm smile. "That's amazing-both about both of you being in the service and wanting to adopt! You are two seriously incredible people!"

"Oh, no, we're not, we're just doing what we think is right," the woman answers, looking slightly embarrassed by the praise.

"It's still amazing!" Fred declares.

"Thank you…" The woman flashes him a small smile before glancing back out at the playground, smiling as she sees Hiro, who was now It, chasing happily after the other children.

"If you don't mind my asking…" she says slowly, "Did you two… adopt your son? I'm sorry if that's prying in any way! It would just be nice to have someone to talk to who's already been through the process."

"That's… Kind of a long story," Tadashi answers slowly, knowing that the answer was complicated for more than one reason-number one being that Hiro was a robot and he wasn't sure how exactly to just bring that up in the conversation, and number two being that it sounded like she thought he and Fred were married (an easy assumption to make, given they were at the park with a child, but still something he wasn't sure how to address because a) he didn't want to make her feel bad for making an honest mistake, and b) he honestly had no idea where Fred was standing on the whole marriage thing right now and he didn't want to say anything that might make things awkward between them by talking about the slightly unstable current state of their relationship.)

Just as his brain was about to combust from trying to come up with a half decent answer, Hiro came to his rescue-although this time it seemed less planned than just a lucky coincidence. The little boy came up to him, his eyelids drooping slightly, and gently tugs on the leg of the older man's pants, saying softly, "Dashi? I'm really tired…"

"Oh my gosh, Hiro, are you okay?" Tadashi asks, instantly concerned, crouching down to the little boy's level and taking his tiny hands in his own.

"Mm…" Hiro nods slowly. "Just sleepy…"

"Aw, poor little guy." Fred gently ruffles the toddler's hair before turning the woman standing next to him and saying quickly by way of explanation, "Guess he must have played a little too hard out there-probably needs to go get in a good nap."

"Oh, of course!" The woman smiles sympathetically down at the little boy. "I'm sorry if I took up too much of your time, I should let you go so you can get him home."

"No, no, don't feel bad, we had a great time talking to you!" Tadashi answers quickly, his main focus on wanting to take care of Hiro but also finding a small idea starting to form in the back of his brain. "Would it be too much to ask if maybe I could get your phone number? I know you have some questions about Hiro that we didn't get a chance to talk about, and it would be nice to get to actually know some of my neighbors if you actually live in the area…"

"That would be great, actually!" The woman grins at him and reaches into her pocket, pulling out a business card that read "Hera Syndulla-Jarrus". "This has my home and cell number."

"Wonderful!" Tadashi quickly tucks her card into his pocket before handing her one of his own.

"Hopefully we can talk again soon," he says as he scoops the now extremely sleepy looking Hiro up into his arms.

"I definitely look forward to hearing from you!" Hera answers, waving as the two men start to make their way away from the playground and back towards home.

"Can I ask what all of that was about?" Fred asks softly as they walk away. "I mean, as much as I'm all for making new friends, I don't know if we should get her hopes up about talking about adoption if we honestly have no experience with that…"

"I honestly wasn't thinking about adoption," Tadashi admits.

"So, what? You're thinking of making them a HIRO too?" Fred says, meaning it as a joke, only for his eyes to go wide as the truth dawns on him. "Oh my gosh… You're thinking about making them a HIRO, aren't you?"

"The idea crossed my mind, yeah," Tadashi admits. "I mean, they've both been in the service-just going by what she said about her injury, I can almost guarantee at least one of them could benefit from having an emotional companion. I need to test the HIRO design out in more than one home environment, and it might do both of them some good… I definitely won't force it on them if it's not something they want, but it couldn't hurt to at least make the offer, right? ...What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You," Fred answers, leaning over and lovingly pecking his forehead, "are incredible, you know that?"

"W-What makes you say that?" Tadashi flushes bright pink at the praise.

"Are you kidding me? You just met someone maybe ten minutes ago who you think is in need of help, and you're already thinking of investing a bunch of time and energy into making something just to make their lives better? How is that not incredible?!" Fred cries.

"I-In all fairness, it won't be as hard the second time around since I already built one HIRO and worked out the bugs in his system, and I do need people to test out different HIRO's…" Tadashi mumbles.

"You are amazing and even if you can't see it, I do, and I don't want anyone trying to talking down my boyfriend, not even-no, _especially_ not himself," Fred declares firmly.

"O-Okay," Tadashi finally agrees, still blushing but gently nuzzling up against his boyfriend as they make their way down the sidewalk, Hiro safely curled up in his arms. "I won't, then."

"Good!" Fred grins and pecks his cheek. "I love you insanely much, you know that?"

"Yeah," Tadashi answers, happily pecking him back. "I do."


	11. Chapter 11

After that day at the park, things noticeably slowed down in the Hamada household. Tadashi felt that after three days of so much activity, both he and Hiro not only deserved but needed a break. And it wasn't just R&R that he had planned-he had a lot of ideas for projects that needed to be worked on, and at least one of them was quite pressing.

It took him about two days to finish the portable charger-he modeled the design off of a portable cell phone charger so it could be plugged in whenever Hiro wasn't using it to charge and then be used to give him a little extra boost whenever he needed it. It made things a lot easier for the little boy being able to actually be regaining energy when he went to "sleep" every night, while still being able to keep an eye on his patient by just wearing the charger to bed. It also meant that he didn't have his mid-afternoon crash so he could actually be awake during the whole day to keep Tadashi company while he worked. And work Tadashi did-even if he wasn't sure that Hera and her husband would be the next recipients of HIRO's, he knew that he was going to soon be looking for test homes soon anyways and so he decided that he would go ahead and begin building the internal systems for the new robots, even if he didn't know what their final external appearances would be (his plan was to let the new recipients help with the design process since it was important for them to be happy and comfortable with whatever companion they received.) Hiro wanted to help in any way he could, and while there wasn't a whole lot he could do, Tadashi made an effort to including him in process, having the little boy hand him tools and parts as he needed them. The toddler also made sure that the man took regular breaks to actually eat meals and didn't stay up too late working. Overall, it was an extremely pleasant few days-Tadashi always felt most in his element when he was working on a project, and having Hiro there to help pass the time while he was working just made it that much better. Still, there was someone else who was also looking out for the engineer's wellbeing, and after giving Tadashi about a week to rest and recover from so much socializing, Fred decides to do something while the toddler was taking a well deserved nap after a long day to make sure that the other man didn't go into full-on hermit mode.

"Dashi."

"Mm?"

"Daaaashi."

"Mm hm?"

"Daaaaashi! Dashi, Dashi, Dashi!"

"Dear gosh, Fred, what do you want?" Tadashi sighs,as he looks up from where he'd been working on making the right arm for one of the new robots.

"I'm bored," Fred answers with a slight pout from where he'd been watching him on the well-loved couch in the office.

"So turn on a show or something-we usually have something on in the background anyways," Tadashi answers with a slight shrug.

"Nooo…"Fred comes over and drapes himself over his boyfriend's back. "I wanna actually do something!"

"What, tonight? It's late out, Fred, I don't think anything's still open…" Tadashi sighs, realizing that he wasn't going to shake his boyfriend off that easily.

"Then not tonight-let's do something tomorrow!" Fred replies.

"...Is this your way of saying you want some attention and you think I need to get out of the house?" Tadashi flashes him a slightly accusatory look.

"Yep!" Fred answers with grin, not at all ashamed.

"Fine. What did you have in mind?" Tadashi sighs.

"Well, Sokyo Con might or might not be this weekend…" Fred answers slowly.

"Oh man, that is tomorrow, isn't it?" Tadashi gasps. "I can't believe I totally forgot about that! Dang it, I don't even have a cosplay put together! I got so caught up with Hiro that I didn't even think about it… I guess maybe I can pull out an old one? It's not the same, but it's something, at least..."

"Well…" Fred flashes him a playful grin. "I may or may not have already taken care of our cosplays for this year."

"You what?" Tadashi cries. "Oh my gosh, Fred, you didn't have to do that!"

"No, I didn't have to, but I wanted to!" Fred reassures him. "I'll be honest, I was kind of surprised when you weren't trying to coordinate costume ideas over a month ago, but I figured that you were just really caught up in your work, and I realized this kind of gave me the opportunity to choose both our costumes for once, so I didn't say anything!"

"That is downright devious," Tadashi states, trying to act disapproving but unable to keep from smiling slightly-he honestly might have done the same thing if he'd been in Fred's position.

"I swear you'll love it!" Fred declares. "AND, even better, I managed to get Hiro a matching costume!""You what? Oh my gosh, Fred, that is… I don't know if it's ridiculously sweet or extremely underhanded," Tadashi admits.

"I'd say 'both'?" Fred laughs, gently pecking his cheek. "But yeah, deviousness aside, I'm really excited-I mean, we're taking Hiro to his first convention, I think it should be special, don't you?"

"Yeah," Tadashi agrees finally losing the battle to keep his grin hidden. "So, when are you going to stop being so secretive and tell me who we're cosplaying as?"

"Well, maybe I shouldn't tell you until tomorrow since you're the one who forgot about the con in the first place…" Fred answers teasingly.

"Fre-ed!" Tadashi protests-it was his turn to pout now. "Please?"

"Aw, you know I can't resist your puppydog eyes," Fred chuckles, gently ruffling Tadashi's hair before getting up from the couch. "So how about instead of telling you, I show you?"

"Yes!" Tadashi cheers, eagerly standing up from where he'd been working on the floor-he couldn't wait to see what his boyfriend had come up with!

"C'mon, I left them in your room!"

"...How did I miss that?!"

"Love, when was the last time you were actually in your room?"

"...Fair point."

"Besides, I kind of snuck them in earlier when I let myself in!"

"I feel like I should be concerned about the fact that you're sneaking stuff into my house without my permission, but given it was well intentioned, fine, I'll let it slide."

"Thank you! Now c'mon, let's go!"

"Right!" Tadashi happily follows after him, anticipation building inside of him as he wonders just what exactly his boyfriend had planned.

"Okay, take a look! What do you think?" Fred asks when they finally reach the bedroom, gesturing proudly to the bed where two costumes were laid out.

"What-? Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, Fred, you DIDN'T!" Tadashi cries.

"I did!" Fred answers, practically beaming with pride. "I know we've talked about it before, so I figured, 'Heck, why not?' I'll take it you like them?"

"YES!" Tadashi hurries over to the bed to take a closer look, carefully lifting up a tunic that was layered in increasingly deeper shades of pink that sported a large star with a bright pink gem in the middle of it. He could only assume that the pink leggings underneath it were what completed the outfit. "I-I can't believe you actually managed to find a way to do a genderbent Rose Quartz, this looks absolutely amazing!"

"Well, you can thank Honey Lemon for that, I just pitched the idea to her and she came up with the actual design and made it," Fred answers with a slight smile.

"Remind me to thank her!" Tadashi chuckles before glancing over at the other cosplay on the bed. "And you're going as young Greg?"

"Yep!" Fred confirms. "That one I actually did make myself! I figured I could pull that look off a lot better than him when he's grown up-plus it makes more sense given the timing, that's how he looked when Rose was still around, right?"

"Right!" Tadashi agrees before a thought strikes him. "Wait a minute… If I'm going as Rose, and you're going as Greg… OH MY GOSH! I-Is Hiro going as-?"

"That's right! Steven!" Fred lifts a small bag off of the bed and pulls out a tiny red t-shirt with a yellow star on it. "What do you think?"

"It's _perfect_!" Tadashi was beaming now. "Oh, Hiro is going to make such a cute little Steven, this is absolutely perfect!"

"I thought you'd approve!" Fred grins back at him.

"I do! I totally do!" Tadashi answers, carefully laying the tunic back down on the bed before hurrying over to hug his boyfriend. "Thank you… This is absolutely amazing," he tells him softly.

"Anything for you," Fred replies, hugging him tightly back. "And for Hiro. I mean, he's a part of this family too, right?"

"R-Right," Tadashi agrees, flushing slightly before realizing he finally needed to do it-this was the perfect time, everything was going so well and they were obviously having a very emotionally intimate moment, he needed to ask his boyfriend exactly what was going on between them.

"F-Fred-?" he starts to ask, feeling the nervousness building up inside his chest but trying to force it down-he could do this!

"Yeah?" Fred answers, a look of mixed curiosity and concern on his face.

"I-I just… I was wondering if maybe…"

Tadashi didn't even manage to get the whole question out. Before he could, Hiro came sleepily wandering into the room, looking like the human equivalent of an abandoned puppy.

"Dashi!" he quietly whines, pouting slightly up at the older man. "You left, and you didn't tell me!"

"I'm sorry, Hiro!" Tadashi apologizes, quickly scooping the little boy up into his arms. "Fred and I just left for a minute, I didn't think you'd wake up before we got back!" The longer the little boy spent around humans, the more "human" his reactions became, and especially when he was tired he was starting to show signs of not just pleasant, happy emotions, but to be able to feel upset or even a little bit cranky. It was frankly adorable most of the time, although Tadashi did his best to make sure that the toddler never felt neglected so that he didn't have to be upset about anything. Still, as cute as Hiro was being right now (even though he wasn't in the best of moods), the moment with Fred had been broken-asking about the state of their relationship when they were dealing with a sleepy Hiro just didn't feel right somehow. Oh well. The engineer does his best to keep his sighing internal-he'd just have to wait for another opportunity. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long for one to show up.

"Someone's a sleepy little panda," Fred says, playfully ruffling the little boy's hair.

"Not panda!" Hiro protests, although he nuzzles into the touch all the same.

"I think someone's ready for bed," Tadashi notes, gently kissing the little boy's nose. "Come on, let's get you into your pajamas-we've got a big day tomorrow, you need to get some rest in."

"Big day?" Hiro seems to grow slightly more alert at that. "What big day?"

"We're going to a convention!" Fred answers with a warm grin. "Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Yeah!" Hiro's eyes light up with excitement-even if he'd never been to one before, as a nerd Tadashi had made sure that the little boy had at least some basic knowledge about cons, and apparently his own excitement had carried over into the robot. "Do I get to wear a costume?"

"Yep!" Fred agrees. "You get to go as Steven!"

"I get to be Steven?" Hiro happily gasps.

"Yep-Fred got you a the shirt and everything," Tadashi answers with a warm chuckle, loving just how eager the little boy was. "And I'm going as a male version of Rose, and Fred's going as Greg!"

"Wow…" Hiro looks like he was about to positively burst from excitement, and he happily throws his arms around both of them in the best hug he could manage at the moment. "So you guys are going to be dressing up like Steven's parents, kind of like you guys are sort of my parents?"

"Right!" Fred agrees, beaming down at the little boy and making Tadashi feel like his heart had just jumped up out of his chest and lodged into his throat.

"I have the best dads ever!" Hiro declares, happily nuzzling against them before his eyelids start to droop again and his head starts to nod.

"Aw, guess that last bit of excitement really wore him out," Fred says with a sympathetic smile, gently stroking the little boy's hair. "I think it's time we put him to bed."

"P-Probably a good idea," Tadashi agrees, trying not to meet his eyes too much as he carries the little boy over to where he had left the portable charger on the nightstand, hoping that Fred couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest but doubting it given how loud it was beating-this was the first time Hiro had verbally really acknowledged both of them as his parents, and while that could have just been his low battery talking, what if it wasn't? What if he meant something more serious by it? What if he expected both Fred and Tadashi to be his parental figures, and while Fred seemed to be totally fine with it-even encouraging it-what did that say about them as a couple? Were they just going to continue on like this, like they were Hiro's parents and everything else that came with it, without any formal commitment, without ever making things official? For some people that was fine, and good for them. And Tadashi knew that Fred loved him with all of his heart, so he didn't know why this was such a big deal to him, but it just was. If they were going to be doing this, damnit, he wanted to be able to tell people that he and Fred were Hiro's parents and not have to wonder about what exactly that meant-wanted people to see them as a family and not to just think that Fred was his husband, but to know for himself that he actually was. He didn't even realize just how intense these emotions inside of him were until he could barely get the wires for the charger hooked up to Hiro, his hands were shaking so badly.

"Dashi? Dashi, what's wrong?" Something about feeling Fred's warm, comforting hands on his shoulders and hear the obvious concern in his voice just made everything that much worse, and before Tadashi could do anything about it he found that he was crying, hot tears making their way down his face in a steady stream. Oh gosh, what was _wrong_ with him, why was he crying like this when he should be so happy with how everything was going tonight?!

"Tadashi, sweetheart, please, talk to me!" Fred quietly begs, pulling Tadashi close and anxiously searching his face. "What's going on? I-I can't do anything to make this better if you don't tell me what's wrong!"

"W-What are we?" Tadashi finally manages to get out.

"What do you mean?" Fred asks, frowning in obvious confusion.

"F-Fred, w-we've been dating for almost six years!" Tadashi answers, not able to meet his gaze. "A-And I know you love me, and I'm so, so happy with you, but… W-What are we right now? I-I know you've never been a big fan of the idea of actually getting married, but it's not like we haven't talked about it, a-and now you keep calling a-all of us a family l-like maybe there's something more to us, and I k-keep getting these mixed signals from you and I just don't know-!" He breaks off, hating himself for gross sobbing right now, but whether from just being tired or a long time building up of emotions or maybe a combination everything he'd been holding inside just came flowing out like the sordid mess it was.

"Oh, Dashi…" Fred pulls his boyfriend closer, and while initially the other man considers pulling away he's too tired to fight in and so instead he just lets himself be held, all the while steeling himself for having his heart broken into a million pieces in case this was the end-in case Fred felt like he'd finally pushed him too far and wanted nothing more to do with him or Hiro.

"I… I'll be honest, it's still kind of hard for me to think about marriage," the fanboy finally says after a few moments of silence in which he seemed to be thinking his next words over carefully. "My parents… They gave me a really, really fucked up view of what being married looked like-all the fighting and the backstabbing and everything… I never thought it was something I'd want if that's what marriage was. When I met you and then fell in love with you, I knew that we had something amazing-something that was a lot better than they had, and I knew that you were the only one I ever wanted to love for the rest of my life. But it was still hard for me to think about us ever actually getting married. Like, what we have is so perfect, I was worried that if we ever put any extra pressure on it we'd be pushing our luck, as if somehow if we tried to make things more permanent-if I tried to make things more permanent-that it would turn out that what seemed so amazing that it almost couldn't be real would turn out to be just that-not real, something I'd just dreamed up in my head. But, looking back on it now? That was a completely stupid thing to even think-I should have stopped living in fear of what I'd seen with my parents and opened my eyes to what was in front of me. You're my Dashi, and you are so, so amazing-I still almost can't believe that I'm lucky enough to be with someone like you, but damnit, this is real, and it would be the worst mistake of my life if I kept pushing us away from what we're obviously meant to be and hurting you in the process."

"F-Fred, what are you saying?" Tadashi asks softly, feeling like he had some idea of where this was going but afraid that he was misunderstanding and getting his hopes up for nothing.

"Tadashi Hamada," Fred answers, gently pressing his forehead against the other man's so that they couldn't look away from each other, his hands wrapped firmly around his boyfriend's, "I want to marry you. I'm sorry it took me so long to get to this point, but I think I needed this long to prove it to myself that what we have is something that isn't going to go away, and it's not going to crumble because we put an official name on it. I want to be with you, as your husband, for the rest of our lives, if you'll have me."

"O-Oh my gosh…" Tadashi whispers, still crying but for an entirely different reason than when he'd started. "I-I can't believe you just proposed to me…"

"Well, I don't have a ring for you yet, so I don't know if this counts as a real proposal" Fred answers, a hesitantly playful note making it's way into his voice, "but I promise I'll get you the most amazing one I can find if you actually say 'yes'. So… Is that a yes?"

"Yes," Tadashi answers, pulling the other man close and pressing an eager kiss to his mouth. "Oh my God, yes! I-I'm sorry if I pressured you, I didn't expect you to actually propose on the spot! I just wanted to find out what exactly was going on between us-!"

He was cut off by Fred kissing him firmly and purposefully back, making him practically melt.

"Stop second guessing this," the fanboy says when he finally pulls away. "I came to this decision on my own, and no 'pressure' from you could have changed my mind one way or the other. And my decision is that I definitely want to marry you, and from what I can tell you really want to marry me too, so let's just be happy with this, okay?"

"O-Okay," Tadashi agrees, contentedly nuzzling up against him. "I-I love you so much…"

"And I love you," Fred reassures him, gently pecking his lips before glancing over at the bed where the little boy was peacefully sleeping. "I can't wait to officially be a family with you and Hiro," he adds softly, squeezing the other man's hands.

"Trust me," Tadashi answers, squeezing lovingly back. "You already are."


	12. Chapter 12

Tadashi awoke the next morning, a warm, contented feeling glowing in his chest, and while he usually hated the sound of an alarm going off and waking him up, given who he was waking up next to he honestly didn't mind it for once. In fact, he actually found himself smiling as he sees his boyfriend-no, _fiance_ slowly waking up.

"Good morning," Fred softly murmurs after turning the alarm off, reaching over to gently stroke the other man's cheek.

"Morning," Tadashi answers, happily nuzzling into the touch. It was hard to believe that last night wasn't a dream-that he and Fred were actually engaged. But one look at the love shining in the fanboy's eyes was all it took to convince him that it was all amazingly real. As it was, Fred was leaning over to kiss him, and he was more than happy to respond, savoring every sweet, tender moment of it. Still, eventually the kiss was interrupted when the little boy sleeping between them begins to stir, and, while they had to separate, the smiles that they share show that neither of them really minds the adorable interruption.

"Dashi…" Hiro's eyes blink open and he lets out a quiet whine. "Why are you awake so early?" Tadashi knew good and well that Hiro had charged enough last night and so the little boy really wasn't that tired, but apparently he'd been watching Tadashi in the mornings and had picked up on copying the older man's usual reaction to being woken up at such an early hour. The engineer wasn't sure if it was adorable or a sign that he wasn't being the greatest of influences-maybe a little bit of both. Still, he was in too good a mood to really mind so instead he just cuddles the little boy close and answers, "Sorry, bud. Didn't mean to wake you up so early! Well… I mean, sort of? We have to get up early for the convention. But Fred and I were… Talking. 'Cause we were pretty excited about something. And, if he's okay with it-I think we'd like to tell you about it?"

"I'm totally okay with it!" Fred reassures him with a grin.

"What's going on?" Hiro asks, seeming more alert as he looks between the two of them.

"Well… Fred proposed to me last night!" Tadashi answers with a grin.

"Proposed?" Hiro repeats, seeming a bit confused but eyes going wide as if he had at least some understanding of the word and its implications.

"Yep!" Fred agrees, wrapping his arms around both Tadashi and Hiro. "It means I asked Tadashi to marry me, and he said 'Yes' so I'm going to be his husband-and your second dad, if you want me to be!"

Hiro's mouth was open in a perfect "o" of surprise, but moments later the expression morphed into an enormous grin.

"Yes!" he cries, happily hugging Fred. "Daddy Fred!"

"I guess I am!" Fred agrees, beaming as if he'd just gotten the best present ever.

As much as Tadashi was enjoying this and would have just stayed here all day if he could, he knew that they'd all regret it if they missed the con, and so after a few minutes of contented cuddling, he gently prompts the others, "I think we probably should get up if we don't want to be late…"

"Oh, right!" Fred agrees, seeming to remember the reason they were up so early in the first place.

"We're going to the con- convention today, right?" Hiro asks, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar word.

"Yes, yes we are!" Tadashi agrees with a warm smile. "You want me to help you get into your costume?"

"Yes please!" Hiro answers with an eager grin.

"C'mon, then!" Tadashi chuckles, lovingly ruffling his hair before scooping him up into his arms. "Let's get dressed and go to the convention!"

The next half an hour was spent in getting ready for the convention-putting on costumes on top of the usual getting ready for the day routines and eating breakfast. Fred had thought ahead and gotten them donuts from Aunt Cass' Cafe for breakfast and so at least they didn't have to spend any time trying to make anything. As soon as they're finished eating, they head out for local trolley stop-they could have driven, but parking around the convention center was usually pretty crazy on event weekends and so it was a lot easier just to take the streetcar. This was Hiro's first ride on one, and while at first he seemed a bit nervous about all of the people around him, any fear was quickly turned to excitement as he watches the city pass by. Beyond that, there were a good number of other convention goers on the trolley with them, and many of them kept coming over to tell Tadashi how cute Hiro looked in his cosplay. Hiro, in turn, was fascinated by all of their various cosplays, and by the time they reached the actual convention center he was more than eager to start their day of fun.

The wait in line to get their badges wasn't too long, and the time passed quickly as Fred and Tadashi told Hiro about some of the things he could expect to see that day, as well as helped him look for more people in costumes. To make it easier for the little boy to not stand out so much when talking to people, when Tadashi had made him he'd given the toddler a basic knowledge of most famous movies, shows, and books so that if someone referenced one of them the little boy would understand. Thus, while Hiro hadn't really seen many movies or read many books at all yet, he was able to recognize a good number of the characters that they saw and seemed extremely proud to be able to point them out to his two dads, who cheered on his efforts with great enthusiasm. The real fun started, though, when the doors finally opened and they entered the main exhibit hall. Hiro had never seen anything like this before-the warren of the brightly colored booths and all the people milling up and down the walkways, and he was wide eyed with silent amazement for a full minute before eagerly tugging on both Tadashi and Fred's hands and begging to be taken around to see everything.

They all spend the next few hours happily exploring the hall-as usual, there are a wide variety of booths, ranging from those selling art to people marketing books or comics to different organizations trying to recruit new members and, of course, the many displays of fandom merch. Hiro was absolutely entranced by it all, firing off about a million questions a minute that Fred and Tadashi did their best to answer. As it was, they were so caught up in trying to keep up with his curiosity they almost walked right past a very promising looking booth until Hiro tugged eagerly on Tadashi's hand and points at it, asking curiously (for the thousandth time that morning), "What's that?"

The older man looks over at the booth, wondering what part of the nerd world he was going to have to explain to the child next, only to grin when he sees the name on the booth. "Oh, that's the Rebel Legion!" he explains.

"Rebel… Legion?" Hiro repeats, seeming a bit confused.

"They're a really cool group of people who dress up as the good guys from Star Wars and go to different events!" Fred explains.

"Oh!" Hiro's eyes go wide with understanding and then he beams as he looks over at the booth. "Can we go see them?"

"Absolutely!" Tadashi agrees with a warm chuckle, letting Hiro eagerly pull him and Fred over to the booth.

"Hi!" the little boy happily greets the jedi and the Twi'lek currently manning the booth.

"Well, hello there!" the jedi answers, beaming down at him.

"Oh, hi there, Hiro!" the Twi'lek adds, eyes sparkling when she spots the little boy.

At first Tadashi was slightly caught off guard-how did she know the little boy's name? But then after a moment he was able to see past the green makeup and recognize the woman in the costume.

"Oh my gosh, Hera?" he asks with a grin.

"Tadashi, hello!" the Twi'lek answers, confirming his suspicions. "I had no idea you were coming to the convention this weekend!"

"I didn't know you were coming either!" Tadashi answers. "Wow, you look amazing!"

"Well, thank you!" Hera grins at him. "So do you guys! Hiro makes such an adorable Steven!"

"Thanks!" Tadashi answers, happily scooping up the little boy so she could see him better.

Hiro looked between Tadashi and Hera, seeming to still be a bit confused, before finally pointing at the woman and asking, "That's Miss Hera?"

"Yes, it's me, Hiro!" Hera confirms, letting him reach out and gently touch her cheek to confirm the fact that she was, in fact, human and not an alien. "It's just makeup."

"Wow!" Hiro's eyes shine as he pulls his hand away, apparently satisfied that it really was her. "You look so pretty!" he declares.

"Thank you!" Hera grins at him before turning to the jedi next to her. "Oh, I haven't introduced all of you yet! This is my husband, Kanan. Kanan, this is Tadashi, Fred, and their son, Hiro."

"I think we've actually met!" Kanan answers before Tadashi or Fred can answer.

"You were the nice man with the dog!" Hiro says after examining his face for a moment.

"Yes, that's right!" Kana agrees with a warm smile.

"Wow, that's so cool that you guys cosplay together!" Fred tells them, beaming slightly.

"It's something we both enjoy, and it's really nice getting to help out with charity events, especially since so many of them involve working with or helping children," Hera replies.

"Plus we're both huge Star Wars fans, so it's nice to meet other people who have similar interests," Kanan adds.

"Yeah, that makes sense!" Fred agrees with a grin. "Dashi and I are both huge Star Wars nerds, and it's always fun to get to meet other people in the fandom!"

"We need to get Hiro started on watching the movies," Tadashi says, smiling down at the little boy, before quickly amending, "Well-maybe we should hold out on Episodes two and three until he's a bit older. But at least one and four would be good ones to start him with!"

"Agreed," Kanan chuckles. "Keep him on the age appropriate ones for now."

"Definitely," Fred agrees, lovingly ruffling Hiro's hair.

As the others continue to talk, Tadashi can't help but see that longing look in Hera and Kanan's eyes as they watch the little boy in his arms, even though they didn't say anything to reveal their true feelings. It was almost like taking an arrow to the chest knowing that they wanted a child of their own so badly but had to date been denied the chance to be parents. It only solidified the idea that had been building in the engineer's mind recently, and honestly he couldn't think of a better time than now to propose his idea-to see if it was even something that the two adults would consider, and, if so, then to get to work on helping make their dream a reality. Still, he didn't want to just blurt out what he was thinking and so he waits until there's a lull in the conversation before asking as casually as he can, "Do you guys ever get a chance to take a break from running the booth?"

"Yes, actually," Kanan answers, seeming a bit surprised but not upset by the question. "Our replacements are supposed to be coming to take a shift in about fifteen minutes."

"Great!" Tadashi grins at them before asking, "Would you mind if I treated you guys to lunch? There's actually something I want to talk to you about-you see, I'm an inventor, and there's a project I'm working on that I think you guys might be able to help me out with, if you'd be willing!"

"Well, of course we'd be happy to help in any way that we could!" Hera answers, looking a bit confused but overall not minding the request. "Would you be willing to meet us back here after the fifteen minutes?"

"Of course!" Tadashi answers, trying but failing not to grin too much-he shouldn't get his hopes up too high that this would all work out, but he couldn't help but hope that it would all the same. "See you in fifteen!"

If Fred knew what he was up to-and he obviously did since Tadashi had only so thinly veiled it-he didn't say anything as they continue to make their way up the row of booths, just gently squeezing his hand and giving him a proud smile that made the engineer's cheeks flush bright pink. Tadashi was wondering if he himself should actually say something to keep his fiance from thinking higher of him than he really should when suddenly the other man pulls to a stop in front of a booth displaying hand-crafted jewelry.

"Hey, Dashi, want to check this place out?" he asks, his tone casual but a slight gleam in his eyes.

"Um, okay?" Tadashi answers. He didn't exactly know what was going on in his boyfriend's head since neither of them really wore jewelry, but there was some beautiful craftsmanship on display, Maybe if his mind wasn't so much on the conversation to come with Hera and Kanan, he would have recognized what was happening sooner, but as it was he was so distracted that he was only half-heartedly glancing at the wares that were on sale until he feels Fred gently nudging him and asking, "What do you think of this one?"

"What do I think of-?" Tadashi starts to ask, only to let out a quiet gasp when he sees the ring that the fanboy was pointing at. It was made of rose gold, designed to look like the twisting branches of cherry blossom tree, the tiniest, most delicate buds and blossoms blooming on the intertwining boughs.

"Wow, it's gorgeous!" he tells Fred with a grin.

"Do you want to try it on?" the fanboy asks.

"What? Why would I-? Oh my gosh!" Tadashi's eyes go wide as the truth dawns on him. "F-Fred, no, I couldn't, it's too-"

"Nope, don't even argue!" Fred states firmly. "I owe you a ring, and I think this one is perfect for you!"

Before Tadashi can even argue, the fanboy was asking the jewelry merchant if he can take the ring out of its case, and moments later he was sliding it onto the other man's finger.

"It's a perfect fit!" Fred declares, beaming.

"I-It is," Tadashi admits, unable to believe how _right_ it felt to have it there.

"So, what do you think? Do you want this as your engagement ring, or do you want to keep looking?" Fred asks.

"I- Honestly, I don't think we're going to find anything better than this," Tadashi answers, finally caving.

"Great!" Fred happily pecks his cheek before paying the vendor for the ring and, to Tadashi's surprise, a child-sized band of a similar design. Before the engineer could even ask what the other ring was for, though, he found the fanboy slipping the ring off of his finger and whispering playfully in his ear, "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right this time."

"What do you mean by-?" Tadashi's question is cut off by a tiny squeak of surprise as Fred suddenly kneels down in front of him. The engineer felt his whole face flushing a deep pink, and many onlookers who had noticed what was happening slow to a stop to eagerly watch what was happening.

"Tadashi Hamada," Fred says, grinning as he takes one of his boyfriend's hands in his own, "you have been the love of my life from the moment I met you, and I know it took me awhile to get to this point, but I know now without a doubt that you are the only one I want to spend the rest of my days with. And I know I already sort of did this last night, but since I didn't have a ring then, I wanted to do this right, so let me ask again, in the sight of this entire convention of nerds-will you marry me?"

"Oh my gosh…" Tadashi barely manages to get out, feeling like he couldn't breathe. But then suddenly the tight band around his chest releases and a grin spreads across his face as he cries, "Oh my gosh, yes!"

Fred beams and slips the ring onto his boyfriend's trembling hand and then straightens up to pull him into a proper kiss, the people who had stopped to watch cheering them on. Tadashi was honestly lost in a happy haze when his boyfriend finally pulled away, and the engineer almost pulled him back in, but then he noticed that the fanboy was kneeling down in front of Hiro (who'd been watching the entire exchange with a huge grin on his face) and he stops himself, watching curiously to see what the other man was doing.

"Hiro," Fred says softly, pulling out the other ring that he'd just purchased, "I know I already asked you this morning, but I want to do this right for you too. I haven't known you for very long, but I already love you like you're my awesome little bro or my son. I-I was never sure I would ever be ready to be a dad, but you make me feel like maybe I can actually do it, and for you I'm definitely willing to try. So, Hiro Hamada-will you let me be your second dad?"

"Yes!" Hiro answers immediately, positively beaming as he allows Fred to slip the ring onto his finger before throwing his arms around the fanboy, who hugs him tightly back.

Unable to resist, after giving them a minute together, Tadashi joins the hug, and Fred and Hiro are more than happy to accommodate him so that they can all be together. The engineer was pretty sure he couldn't hold a drop more happiness until he hears Hiro's voice, slightly muffled because he was being squished in the hug, saying softly, "I love you, Daddy, Papa."

For a moment, Tadashi's breath catches in his throat-Hiro had said "I love you" before, but it had always sounded like something he was repeating as a common phrase, like, "Hello" or "Thank you". As they'd spent more time together, he knew without a doubt that he loved the little boy and in his head he was pretty sure that Hiro felt the same way about him. But this was the first time that Hiro had said it out loud and actually sounded like he fully understood exactly what he was saying and meant it with all of his heart, and it made the older man's heart swell to almost bursting. This was easily the happiest moment of his entire life, being right here with his family, and he whispers back to Hiro, "I love you too."

" _We_ love you," Fred confirms, and the little boy between them happily nuzzles against them.

As much as they easily could have stayed there all day, it quickly became apparent that, as the onlookers started to drift away, they couldn't keep taking up space like this in the walkway. Beyond that, the fifteen minutes were probably up and so they all get up to head back to the booth to find Hera and Kanan. They didn't end up having to go far, though-as they turn to go find the booth again, they find that their lunch companions had apparently already come to find them because they were standing by a nearby booth, and, if the grin on Hera's face was any sign, they'd witnessed everything that had just happened.

"H-Hey!" Tadashi greets them, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Hello!" Hera answers, a sparkle in her eyes. "And, might I add, congratulations?"

"Thanks!" Fred replies, happily wrapping an arm around Tadashi's waist.

"Big day for you guys, huh?" Kanan chuckles warmly.

"Yep!" Fred agrees with a grin.

"I feel like I apologize," Hera tells them, giving them a slightly embarrassed look. "I kept assuming that you two were already married, but I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine!" Tadashi reassures her. "I probably would have made the same mistake if I were in your place."

"Plus we've been together so long that we might as well have been married," Fred answers with a playful smile. "It just took me this long to finally get up the courage to try to make it official."

"Trust me, it took an eternity to finally pop the question to Hera, so I completely understand," Kanan says with a wry smile.

"And it's so sweet that you proposed to Hiro too!" Hera beams at Fred.

"Hey, he's a part of this family, I wanted him to feel like he had a say in this too!" Fred replies, happily scooping up the little boy who giggles at the sudden movement before happily nuzzling up against him.

"It's still very sweet," Hera tells him with a warm smile before continuing, "I know that this is a special day for you and you probably just want some time alone as a family, so if you need to cancel our lunch plans, we completely understand!"

Tadashi glances over at Fred-it was true, as much as he wanted to still talk to the couple about the possibility of being the next HIRO testers, it was possible that his now official fiance wasn't in the mood for company.

To his great relief, though, the other man just smiles and says breezily, "No, it's fine! I know Dashi-he won't be able to relax until he's taken care of what he needs to take care of. And besides, we can go out for a celebratory dinner tonight!"

"That's true," Hera agrees with a slight smile even as Tadashi gratefully squeezes the fanboy's hand, mentally promising to make this up to him later.

"Sounds good," Kanan agrees before asking curiously, "So, did you guys have a particular place in mind for lunch?"

"Well…" Tadashi considers this. There was a really fun maid cafe that he and Fred usually went to during the con, but he wasn't sure that that was Kanan and Hera's speed. Beyond that, for the conversation they had coming, he was hoping to have it in a slightly more private environment-maybe at one of the tables on the terrace of the convention center. There was a really good food truck that came here each year that specialized in bentos and that seemed like the next best option. That decided, he asks the other couple, "How do you feel about sushi?"

As luck would have it, the others were perfectly fine with the offered food choice, and so they all head out to the truck to get lunch before going up to the terrace to grab a table. Tadashi manages to find one that had a nice view of the city while being sufficiently far enough away from the other tables that they could have the desired amount of privacy. To begin with,as they start eating, they mainly stick to lighter topics-asking casual questions to get to know each other a bit better. Part of Tadashi's focus during this first part of the lunch also had to be on teaching Hiro how to use chopsticks, and while the little boy struggled a bit with them to begin with, he quickly picked it up on and was then very proud to show off how well he could use them.

"He's extremely bright-not just for his age, but period," Kanan notes, watching the child with a slight smile. "It took me a lot longer than that to figure out how to use these things!"

"How old is he?" Hera asks curiously. "He looks so young, but at the same time he's very mature!"

"Well…" Tadashi glances over at Fred-this seemed like as good a time as any to explain the truth to the other couple.

"It's kind of tricky to explain his age," the inventor finally says after his fiance gives him an encouraging nod.

"Because he's-" Hera glances over at Hiro and then lowers her voice, as if afraid that the little boy shouldn't hear, before continuing, "-adopted? Were they not able to find his records so you don't know his exact birthday?"

"Oh, no, he's not adopted," Fred quickly puts in.

"He's not?" Hera asks, looking a bit surprised before looking over at Tadashi. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have assumed-is he yours?"

"In a way," Tadashi answers, before realizing from Hera and Kanan's expressions that he was being ridiculously cryptic and deciding that he should just be direct with them.

"All right," he says, taking a deep breath, "let me start from the beginning. Are you familiar with the Baymax healthcare robot?"

"Yes, of course," Hera replies, still seeming lost but glad to be moving to a topic that made a bit more sense to her.

"One of those guys saved my partner about a year ago," Kanan adds, smiling slightly. "They're amazing, honestly-I'd love to meet the inventor someday and thank him personally for all the good he's done."

"Well…" Fred looks over at his fiance and grins. "Consider that wish fulfilled!"

"Wait, what?" Hera looks between the two men.

"Dashi's the one who created Baymax!" Fred explains, looking proudly at Tadashi, who was blushing slightly under the other couple's stunned gazes.

"O-Oh my gosh!" Hera finally manages to get out. "I never even looked at the name on that card you gave me… Y-You're Tadashi Hamada?"

"Yep," Tadashi agrees, ducking his head modestly.

"That's incredible!" Kanan cries, grinning at the other man. "I can't believe I'm actually sitting here having lunch with the creator of Baymax!"

"I-I'm no different than anyone else!" Tadashi mumbles, feeling embarrassed by all this attention-it wasn't exactly what he'd been going for, he'd just thought Baymax would be a good introduction to talking about his latest creation, but things were getting a bit off track.

Seeming to notice his fiance's discomfort, Fred quickly steps in. "He's ridiculously modest," he says, gently squeezing Tadashi's shoulder. "That's why he doesn't broadcast who he is to the world. But right now he's actually testing out a new robot!"

"Really?" Hera seems to have gotten over her initial shock and, seeing Tadashi's reaction to the attention so far, asks gently, "Would you mind telling us about it?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi answers, flashing the fanboy a grateful smile for helping him get back to the heart of the matter. "That's actually why I asked you guys to lunch today-to see if maybe you'd be willing to help out in the next stage of the testing."

"All right," Hera agrees, her forehead wrinkling slightly. "Like I said before, we're more than happy to help but-is there a particular reason you've asked us?"

"Well…" Tadashi tries to think how to best word this-he didn't want to say anything offensive or triggering, so he was going to have to tread carefully. "It actually has to do with the fact that you've both been in the service-Hera, you in the air force, and Kanan, you in the police force."

"Okay," Kanan agrees, nodding and apparently trying to discern where he was going with this. "Is it some sort of device that's meant to be used for military applications?"

"Not exactly, although sort of," Tadashi responds. "It's actually a device meant to help anyone who's gone through any sort trauma. I built the first one to help me deal with-well, with the ptsd from the car crash I was in when I was eight that killed both of my parents."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Hera says softly, a hand going to cover her mouth. "I didn't even know-"

"It's okay," Tadashi tells her with the best smile he can manage. "I mean, it's not okay, but I'm working through it as best as I can. And this new invention, it's-well, it's helping me a lot." He feels Hiro gently nuzzling up against him as he speaks, and he gratefully strokes the little boy's hair.

"That sounds incredible," Hera says gently. "And I'm glad it's helping you. Can I ask if-well, if you're asking me and Kanan if we want to be a part of this because of the things we've seen in our respective fields?"

"I didn't want to make any assumptions!" Tadashi puts in hurriedly. "And I'm sorry if I'm overstepping my bounds!"

"No, you're not," Hera reassures him-there was a slightly strained look in her expression, but she didn't seem upset with the inventor. "You're right-Kanan and I have both seen some pretty difficult things in our time, and both of us have been in and out of different therapies over the years."

"That's part of the reason I have Chopper-he's not an officially trained service dog, but the doctors think it's healthy for both of us to have each other after everything we've been through together," Kanan adds quietly.

"So," Hera says, obviously trying to keep the tone upbeat, "what exactly is this invention of yours? Is it a device that monitors for signs PTSD episodes, or-?"

"Kind of," Tadashi answers. "I mean, yes, it absolutely monitors for signs of anxiety, panic attacks-anything sort of episode that isn't healthy for its patient. But, beyond that, it's kind of like a companion-like a service animal, only more… human."

"Human?" Kanan repeats curiously.

"You mean like how Baymax is sort of human shaped?" Hera asks.

"No," Tadashi answers, taking a deep breath before gently putting a hand on the head of the little boy next to him. "I mean, like Hiro."

"Like…?" Hera and Kanan both look confused at first, but then understanding seems to dawn on both of them.

"Wait," Hera gasps, eyes going wide as she looks down at the child sitting across from her. "A-Are you trying to say that Hiro-?"

"Yes," Tadashi confirms with a slight smile as Hiro openly beams at the couple. "Hiro is a robot."

"A Helping Interfacing Robotic Operating System-H.I.R.O.!" the little boy chirps helpfully.

"O-Oh my goodness!" Hera stares at him in utter and complete shock. "I-I never would have known-!"

"He looks and acts just like a real kid," Kanan marvels.

"That's kind of the point," Tadashi answers with a wry chuckle, pulling Hiro up onto his lap and lovingly stroking his hair. "I wanted him to look and act as much like a human as possible to make him more authentic. What I didn't plan on was-well, honestly on the fact that he was going to come into my life and change it so much for the better like he did. I can't even imagine a day without him now… I love him like he's my own son."

"And I firmly believe that he is, in every sense but biological reproduction!" Fred adds, grinning over at the two of them.

"That's incredible!" Hera says, openly smiling now. "I'm so happy that you're getting to experience something like that with him!"

"Me too," Tadashi agrees before continuing, "And actually… That's kind of the other reason I asked you and Kanan if you'd be willing to be my next beta testers for this particular line of robots. Hera, I know that you told me that you and Kanan have been looking to adopt. And I know it's not exactly the same thing, but I was thinking that maybe, if you're interested in working with another HIRO or two-"

"W-Wait- You're offering-?" Hera gasps, looking utterly stunned, and Kanan reaches over to squeeze her hand, listening hard to what the other man was saying.

"I couldn't think of a better test home for them," Tadashi answers, grinning hopefully at their reaction. "I'm thinking maybe one for each of you, if you'd be willing to give that a try. They honestly don't require any upkeep except for keeping them charged, although, as you've seen with me and Hiro, they tend to take on personalities of their own if you give them a chance and sharing your daily life with them can make the experience just that much more enjoyable! Also, if you guys would like to, you could help me design their appearances. While the basic skeleton of the robot stays mostly the same, my goal is for HIRO's to be as diverse as their patients, so I'm open to any input you guys have as to what you might like yours to look like-gender, hair, skin tone, eye color, pretty much anything reasonable enough I can do! And of course they don't have to be named 'Hiro'-you can choose any names you like and I can put that in their databases as the name that they respond to! So… What do you think?"

The inventor finally pauses for breath, realizing that he'd just dumped a huge load of information on the other two adults in a very short period of time. That hadn't been his intention, but what was done was done, and all he could do was wait to hear what they had to say.

Hera was looking over at Kanan, and the two seemed to be wordlessly communicating as Tadashi does his best not to fidget in his chair, waiting for their reactions. And then, finally, the two exchange a nod, and Hera turns to Tadashi and, grinning, says, "We'd absolutely love to be a part of this!"

"Great!" Tadashi lets out a huge sigh of relief and then beams back at her. "I'll get to work on them right away! It took me a while to make Hiro, but that was because I was still developing his design and I had to work out all the bugs in his system, so it shouldn't take me near as long to get your two up and running! The basic systems will take a bit of time to put together, so you have some time to come up with the designs for what they'll look like on the outside if that's something that you want to do!"

"Well, neither of us are really artists," Kanan admits. "But we can certainly do our best!"

"Even if it's just some rough idea, I know we can pull something together," Tadashi reassures him. "I based Hiro a bit off of what I looked like as a kid, but I had my friend, Honey Lemon, who's a designer, help me out with really fleshing him out aesthetically, and I know she'd probably be more than happy to help you too if you'd like that!"

"I-It sounds incredible," Hera agrees, looking slightly choked up. "T-This is so amazing of you to offer, I don't even know how to-"

"Don't say anything," Tadashi says firmly. "If anything, I should be thanking you guys for being willing to be my guinea pigs!"

Hera looks like she doesn't quite believe him, but all the same she just smiles and nods in response, seeming to not have the words to express anything more.

Kanan, for his part, seemed to be mulling something in his mind, and he finally asks, "After the testing period is over, I'm assuming that you'll be needing the HIRO's back?"

"No, absolutely not!" Tadashi states firmly, realizing the man's reason for hesitation. "It wouldn't be fair and definitely not ethical to separate you from them or them from you after you've bonded and shared so much. They're yours to keep, free and clear of any charge-consider it your compensation of sorts for helping out in this important study!"

"It still doesn't seem like quite a fair trade off," Kanan notes, although he seemed relieved by the other man's response, as if already he was afraid of giving up the little boy or girl currently forming in his imagination.

"Consider them a gift from a friend, then," Tadashi answers with a smile. "All I ask is that, aside from sending me the medical reports that I'll have Minimaxes taking to monitor how the HIRO's are affecting your mental and emotional health, you bring the little guys over to visit sometime-I'm sure Hiro would love to have some friends to play with!"

"We can definitely do that!" Hera reassures him before surprising him by suddenly reaching across to hug him. "Thank you," she whispers gratefully in his ear. "You have no idea how much this means to us."

"No, thank you," Tadashi answers, gently hugging her back. And honestly, he really was grateful to them-not just that they were willing to help him test out the HIRO system, although that was a part of it. But they were giving him a chance to make someone else's life a little easier-to bring some joy into their world. Because at the end of the day, that's exactly why he did what he was doing-he wanted to help people and see the beautiful smiles on their faces that came from having someone show them a little extra kindness. That was the greatest reward of all for him, and that's why he was going to keep doing what he was doing for as long as he could. And if sometimes in his efforts he was lucky enough to have something as amazing as the little boy nuzzling up against him come into his own life? Well, he then he just had a reason to be doubly grateful.


	13. Chapter 13

The next few months pass by in something of a blur-and no wonder with everything that Tadashi had going on. For one thing, now that he and Fred were officially engaged, they had to start planning the wedding ceremony. For a short while they'd considered just having a small, private ceremony or even eloping to avoid all the trouble and stress that usually came with getting married, but as soon as their family and friends found out about the engagement, the matter was entirely out of their hands-everyone was determined that they were going to have a big fairytale-style wedding and no amount of arguing or pleading was going to change their minds. Maybe the couple would have minded more if they'd been expected to do all the work themselves, but Honey Lemon and Aunt Cass both volunteered to take over all the planning for them and so they finally caved. Tadashi was still getting calls at all hours about what colors they wanted the napkins at the reception to be (Honey Lemon) and if he thought lemon custard cake would be better than regular lemon (Aunt Cass) but he was starting to learn to just get used to it. Wasabi was going to serve as their joint best man and Abigail as their maid of honor, and it was determined that Aunt Cass would walk Tadashi down the aisle with Hiro serving as the ring bearer (Honey Lemon was particularly excited to be making a suit for the little boy.) They were still searching for a flower girl, but Fred joked that, should the perfect one not show up, they'd have Mochi join the ceremony as a "flower cat".

Aside from the actual wedding, there was a good deal of work to do with Fred actually moving in with Tadashi and Hiro. There had been some question as to who would be moving in with who initially, but given Tadashi had an actual house and a well-established workspace in it while Fred was currently just in a temporary studio apartment, it quickly became obvious that Tadashi's place was the better choice. After all of Fred's things had been moved in, the house was a bit more crowded, but cozily so, and living in the same house and being able to see each other whenever they wanted to more than made up for it.

Beyond just having Fred move in, the unused nursery in the back of the house had been renovated as a bedroom for Hiro. That had honestly probably been the funnest part of all of this, putting together a room for the little boy. It was true that most nights the little boy still preferred to sleep with Tadashi and Fred, but some nights the adults did want their privacy, and it was also nice for him to have a place of his own for when or if he wanted it. Both men loved spending their free time playing with him in it whenever they could (thanks to all of his adopted family and friends, the little boy had more toys than he knew what to do with) and they spent many happy hours together there.

The final, and probably most time consuming thing that was keeping Tadashi so busy was working on the two HIRO's for Kanan and Hera. The engineer started work as soon as the little family had gotten home from the convention that night, and he'd been hard at work ever since. Of course with both Hiro and Fred there he was lovingly forced to take lots of breaks and just take care of himself in general, so he wasn't able to pull all-nighters like he would have done if he'd been on his own. But honestly having the proper amount of rest gave him some extra energy for when he actually was working, so it made up for the lost time at least a little bit. And given he had two such adorable "distractions" he couldn't complain too much.

Still, even with the enforced breaks, he was making good headway. As he's promised Kanan and Hera, the internal skeletons didn't take near as long as Hiro's to build now that he had experience building the first one. And since this time he wasn't keeping the project a secret, when it came to creating the outer features of the robots Honey Lemon was able to help him out immensely (he didn't know how she was juggling planning his wedding and helping him with the new HIRO's plus everything else she had on her plate, but she kept insisting the she wanted to help and so he couldn't turn down her continuous offers of assistance.) The feisty Latina had honestly been the one mostly in charge of designing the robots' exteriors-their new patients had done their best to come up with some ideas, but finally they'd admitted to being too nervous to be able to come up with anything solid and asked Tadashi to have someone else take the responsibility. Honey Lemon's designs had turned out gorgeous (as could be expected from her) if a bit… unique. The little boy Tadashi was making for Kanan ended up with bright blue eyes and midnight blue hair, while the girl for Hera had golden brown eyes and blue hair a bit lighter than her brother's with orange highlights. At first the engineer had been a bit concerned as to what the couple would think of the designs, but upon being shown them, it was obvious that they'd immediately fallen in love with them, and so a rather relieved Tadashi was able to let Honey Lemon continue with her work. Shortly after that design meeting, Kanan and Hera informed the inventor that they'd chosen the name Ezra for the boy and Sabine for the girl, and he was more than happy to enter that information into their databases.

Tonight, after all those days and nights of hard work, Tadashi was glad to say that the new HIRO's were ready to meet their family and maybe even go home with them. As much as he'd wanted to have Kanan and Hera be there for the first time Ezra and Sabine came online, the desire to ensure that they were working properly first had won out and so the inventor had spent a week after completing the new robots in testing, making sure that everything worked properly for them. At first, like Hiro, their words and actions had been a bit stiff and machine-like, but Tadashi had learned his lesson the first time around and kept them on for as long as their charges would hold out, talking to them and introducing them to the world around them (or as much as he could while staying in the house), and between interacting with humans and meeting Hiro (a robot of their own design who was able to show them that it was okay to just be themselves and branch out from their programming), they soon got over their initial shyness and started acting more human, showing their own personalities and quirks. Fully satisfied that the HIRO's were ready to face the rest of the world and, more importantly, finally go to their own home, on the Friday night that marked the end of the week of testing, Tadashi finally makes the call to invite the patients/parents to come meet the new additions to their family.

It was Hera who answered when the phone finally stops ringing. "Hello?" she says, sounding as cheerful as ever, if a bit reserved-both she and Kanan knew that the two robots were almost done and Tadashi, for his part, knew that they were both on the edge of their seats waiting for news but trying not to get their hopes up every time that he called them.

Well, the engineer thinks with a grin, today he could finally tell them exactly what they wanted to hear! Still, he couldn't resist drawing the suspense out just a tiny bit and so he keeps his tone level as he answers, "Hera, hi! Glad I caught you! How are you doing?"

"All right, you?" Hera replies, obviously trying to keep the impatience out of her voice.

"Great, thank you," Tadashi responds before asking as casually as he can, "Are you and Kanan doing anything tonight?"

"Not that I can think of, no," Hera answers, just a bit of hope creeping into her tone in spite of herself. "Is everything alright?"

"Fine-Great, actually!" Tadashi tells her, unable to keep the grin off of his face by now. "They're done!"

"A-Are you serious?" Hera gasps-there was no need to specify who "they" were, there was no one else he could mean but the HIRO's.

"Yes, completely serious," Tadashi replies before adding, "And they're very excited to meet you!"

"O-Oh my gosh!" Hera sounded close to tears now. "W-When can we come and see them?"

"As soon as you're ready!" Tadashi answers.

"Is half an hour too soon?" Hera asks. "Kanan's should be getting home from his patrol any time now and we can come right over!"

"Half an hour is perfect!" Tadashi reassures her. "We'll see you then!"

"So they're coming?" Fred asks, smiling as he looks up from where he was typing away on the couch-it still seemed like a miracle to the engineer that he could actually concentrate with three kiddos running around the house, but the fanboy always had been good at getting things done even with a million distractions around him so Tadashi supposed he should just be glad for him instead of questioning it.

"Yep!" the raven-haired man agrees with a grin. "Ezra and Sabine are going to get to meet their parents!"

"Awesome!" Fred beams at him as the other slides onto the couch next to him. "I'm really happy they'll finally get to be a family! Of course I'll miss the little guys running around the place-it certainly kept life interesting!"

"Agreed." Tadashi nods in understanding. "But it'll be good to see them with the people they're meant to be with."

"Absolutely!" Fred grins at him.

"So, want to help me go get them ready?"

"Wouldn't miss it!"

In the half an hour before Kanan and Hera arrived, Fred helps Tadashi round up the trio, get them through a bath (they'd been fingering painting-Sabine especially seemed partial to artistic endeavors), and get them into a fresh change of clothes. By the time that there was a knock on the door signaling that their guests had arrived, all were sitting, fresh and clean, on the couch, Sabine and Ezra eagerly awaiting getting to meet their parents for the first time.

"Hey!" Tadashi grins as he opens the door to let the Jarruses in. "Glad you could make it!"

"Of course!" Hera beams back at him.

"Thank you for having us," Kanan adds.

"You're more than welcome!" Tadashi answers. "Trust me, your little guys are absolutely dying to meet you!"

"We're just as excited to meet them!" Hera answers, although the engineer noticed how tightly she was gripping her husband's hand.

"Nervous?" he asks gently.

"A little bit," Hera admits with a wry smile. "I know it's ridiculous but-"

"Trust me, it's completely normal," Tadashi reassures her. "But believe me, that nervousness is going to be gone the second you meet them."

"We'll take your word for it," Kanan tells him.

"Come on." Tadashi waves for them to follow him. "They're waiting in the living room with Fred!"

The walk down the short hallway into the living room was made in almost complete silence-the couple was obviously too afraid to say anything else, and the inventor with them couldn't see the point in giving them any more reassurance when he knew everything was going to be just fine in a minute. And he was completely right.

As soon as Hera and Kanan enter the adjoining room, Ezra and Sabine's eyes light up (almost literally) and they practically jump off of the couch to hurry over to them.

"Hi!" Ezra was the first one to speak as they reach the two adults, grinning up at Kanan. "I'm Ezra!"

"And I'm Sabine!" Sabine adds, smiling eagerly up at Hera.

"H-Hi," Kanan answers, looking absolutely stunned for a moment before kneeling down to the height of the little boy in front of him, a warm smile spreading across his face as he reaches out to tentatively take the child's hand in his own. "I'm Kanan."

"I know!" Ezra answers, giggling. "Mr. Tadashi told me about you! He said you're my patient!"

"I guess I am," Kanan agrees with a soft chuckle. "Although hopefully I won't be too much trouble for you!"

"I don't mind!" Ezra reassures him. "That's why Mr. Tadashi made me, right?"

"True," Kanan answers, daring to gently ruffle the little boy's hair. "Still, hopefully you won't be the one taking care of me all the time. I'd like to get the chance to take care of you too, if you're okay with that."

"Would taking care of me make you happy?" Ezra asks curiously.

"Very," Kanan replies.

"Okay then!" Ezra grins at him. "As long as it makes you happy, I'm okay with you taking care of me!" Then, without warning, the little boy was happily wrapping his arms around the older man, who momentarily stiffens in surprise before seeming to melt into the contact. It was obvious to Tadashi, who was watching them, that Ezra had already claimed Kanan's heart in the same way that Hiro had claimed his, and it was a beautiful thing to watch.

The engineer glances over to see how Hera and Sabine were doing, and it looked like they were doing just as well-Sabine was, as usual, talking a million miles a minute about something, and Hera was absolutely beaming even as she does her best to keep up with her. Eventually the little girl finally pauses for a moment, as if to allow the older woman a chance to catch up, before asking curiously, "Do I call you Hera or Mom? 'Cause Hiro calls his patient Dashi and he also calls him Papa so I don't know which one is right."

"I-Honestly, I'm okay with you calling me either," Hera answers, a slightly misty look in her eyes as she gently squeezes Sabine's hands. "It's whatever's more comfortable for you."

"Hm…" The little girl seems to be considering this for a moment before declaring, "I guess I'll call you mom, then!"

"Mom is perfectly fine, sweetie!" Hera reassures her, wrapping her arms around her in a hug and obviously trying not to get too emotional.

"So should I call you Dad?" Ezra asks Kanan.

"If you want to!" Kanan replies with a grin.

"Yeah!" Ezra happily nuzzles against the older man before looking over at Hera and asking, "So, if Sabine's my sister and Kanan's my dad, does that make you my mom?"

"I-If you want me to be," Hera answers, looking twice as emotional as she'd been only moments before.

"Cool, so that makes you my dad!" Sabine says, grinning over at Kana.

"Guess so, kiddo," Kanan agrees, laughing and gently reaching over to ruffle her hair too, the little girl beaming up at him as he does so.

Content that everything was going well, Tadashi quietly makes his way over to the kitchen to give the little family some privacy-this was, after all, a very personal moment for them and he didn't want to do anything to accidentally ruin it. As he enters the other room, he finds that Fred was already there, and Hiro trails in only moments after him.

"They look really happy together!" Hiro declares, as if wanting to make sure whole world had shared in his observation.

"They do, bud," Tadashi chuckles, happily scooping the little boy up into his arms.

"You did a good thing, love," Fred says, coming over to wrap his arms around both of them, pecking the other man's cheek as he does so. "No, not just a good thing-a _great_ thing. What you just did for them-it's nothing short of amazing."

"I-I'm just happy to see them so happy," Tadashi answers, flushing at the praise.

"I know you are," Fred says, lovingly kissing his forehead. "And that's what makes you so amazing."

Tadashi blushes an even deeper pink but doesn't complain as his fiance proceeds to give him a proper kiss as well.

"C-Come on," the inventor finally manages to get out after the fanboy has thoroughly shown him exactly what he thinks of him (Hiro had made quiet gagging noises throughout), breaking away before things could get too heated while they had company over. "I think it would be nice to maybe make dinner for everyone so that they don't have to worry about cooking later, right?"

"I'm all for that," Fred chuckles, lightly pecking Tadashi's cheek again before finally behaving himself and asking, "What can I do to help?"

"Well…" Tadashi considers this. "Maybe you could get the water going for some noodles on the stove?"

"Still don't trust me in the kitchen, do you love?" Fred asks with a wry smile.

"What? No, I do trust you!" Tadashi protests, flushing bright pink. "It's just-"

"It's just every time I try to cook something I end up managing to burn or squash or ignite it? It's okay, I'm not offended, I know I can't make anything to save my life," Fred chuckles. "I'll stick to the safe stuff like you told me to and set the table for everyone."

"Thank you for understanding!" Tadashi happily pecks his cheek.

"You're welcome!" Fred chuckles, returning the peck before getting back to work.

It wasn't long before the kitchen was filled with an amazing aroma from all the cooking food. Usually Tadashi sort of subsisted on whatever was easy to make when he didn't feel like eating out, but thanks to growing up helping out in Aunt Cass' Cafe he did know how to cook well when he put his mind to it, and since this was a special occasion of sorts he decided to go all out. He didn't even realize that Kanan and Hera had come to investigate the source of the smell until he turned and saw them standing in the doorway, Hera with Sabine happily clinging onto her leg and Kanan with Ezra contentedly nestled in his arms.

"I'm so sorry, I hope we're not overstaying our welcome and interrupting your evening plans!" Hera apologizes when the engineer greets them.

"What? Oh, no, absolutely not!" Tadashi reassures her. "Actually, I was just finishing making dinner for everyone! I hope you're hungry, I kind of overdid it as bit so we have plenty!"

"Oh my goodness! You didn't have to-!" Hera starts to protest, but Tadashi cuts her off gently but firmly.

"I didn't have to, but I want to," he tells her. "I wanted to do something extra to make tonight special, and besides, it's nice having an excuse to cook something other than frozen pizza for once!"

"Trust me, he's just like his aunt in this way-you're not going to be able to get out the door without eating dinner here," Fred chuckles from where he was keeping Hiro entertained while his fiance worked on the stove (the little boy knew how to be safe around hot surfaces, but they still didn't want to risk anything.)

"His aunt?" Kanan glances curiously over at Tadashi.

"Grandma!" Hiro puts in cheerfully before the engineer can answer. "She owns a Cafe and she makes the best food ever!"

"Your aunt runs a Cafe?" Hera asks, finally seeming to cave to the inevitable and taking a seat at the table, Sabine crawling contentedly into her lap as she does so.

"Yep," Tadashi confirms with a warm smile. "Taught me everything I know about cooking-and, well, about pretty much everything except for engineering, which I got more from my surrogate dad. She's the one who took me in after-well, after the accident." He does his best not to wince-thanks to Hiro, he was doing a lot better about being able to talk about it, but he still tried to avoid it when he could, and so he quickly continues in the brightest voice he can muster, "I'm really, really lucky that she took me in like she did. She didn't know anything about kids-never even married and probably never planned on having children-but she took me in and raised me the best she could in spite of that. I think we both kind of learned a lot from each other over the years, and I'm always going to be grateful for everything she's done for me. If I couldn't have my real mom, she made the best possible surrogate mom on the planet."

"That's wonderful," Hera says with a warm smile.

"She sounds like an amazing woman," Kanan adds.

"She is," Tadashi agrees as he starts pulling pots and pans off of the stove and transferring them over to the table. "I hope maybe someday you guys might get a chance to meet her."

"We'd love that!" Hera tells him.

"Hm… Maybe there is a good way that you could coming up," Fred notes as he helps Hiro into a chair while Tadashi continues to put the food out.

"How's that?" Kanan asks.

"Well, Dashi and Hiro and I and the rest of our-well, we call it a family, even if we're not all related-are all heading down to the beach next weekend," Fred explains. "It's the first time in a little while that it's actually going to be warm enough to go, and it's been a little while since we've actually all managed to clear our schedule long enough to get together. It would be really fun if you guys wanted to tag along! You don't have to, of course! It just might be nice for you guys to meet our friends if you'd like to, and I know Hiro would love to get to have Sabine and Ezra to play with-he's probably going to get a little lonely without having them here all the time!"

"Well…" Kanan glances over at Hera. "We actually do have the weekend off…"

"And it has been ages since we've been to the beach," Hera concedes. "Are you sure we wouldn't be intruding?"

"Not at all!" Tadashi says firmly, finally joining them at the table, glad that his fiance had brought this up.

"Okay then, we accept!" Kanan tells them with a grin. "Thank you for inviting us!"

"Can I just make one small request?" Hera asks.

"Absolutely!" Fred agrees.

"What is it?" Tadashi asks curiously.

"Well, we were thinking of getting together with the rest of our family," Hera explains. "Like you guys, not related, but an old friend of mine I met in the service and his husband who actually works with Kanan on the local force."

"Hey, the more the merrier!" Fred declares. "The beach house my parents always let us use will easily fit all of us!"

If Kanan and Hera at all wondered about how Fred's family could afford a beach house that large, they didn't raise any questions (to the fanboy's great relief, Tadashi knew), and just agreed that they'd check with their friends and let them know what they said.

The rest of dinner passed smoothly, the conversation easily flowing and the mood extremely festive, especially with the little ones there to fill in any gaps that happened to occur in the conversation. Even after dinner they just stayed for a while talking until it became evident that all three of the kids, who had run off to play in the living room, were starting to droop and that it was definitely time to put them on to charge for the night in the comfort of their own homes.

Goodbyes were a bit rough-Hiro had gotten so used to having two playmates living with him that he had a hard time seeing them leave, especially Ezra whom he'd grown extremely close to. But since the next day was Saturday Hera and Kanan promised to bring them to the park in the morning, which helped quell the worst of his fears about being separated from them.

With a little help from Fred and Tadashi, Hera and Kanan get their two little ones settled into the backseat of the car, and after some last minute instructions on how to hook them up to the chargers, the family heads off down the street for home.

"You going to be okay, bud?" Tadashi asks, putting a gentle hand on Hiro's shoulder as the little boy sadly waves after them.

"Mm," Hiro mumbles noncommittally before looking up at the older man hopefully and asking, "Can you make me a little brother or sister?"

"I- Y'know what, let's put a pin in that for the moment," Tadashi answers, glancing over at Fred who looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh. "You're enough of a handful as it is, little guy!"

Hiro makes a playful face at that but doesn't argue as the engineer scoops him up into his arms to take him inside to his own charger.

"You spoiled him a little too well," the fanboy tells the other man with a playful smile as they make their way back into the house.

"Maybe," Tadashi answers with a wry smile before lovingly pecking the top of Hiro's head, the little boy almost completely out at this point. "Honestly, I'm not sure-maybe eventually we'll be ready for another little guy or gal, but I think right now Hiro's more than enough."

"True," Fred chuckles. "Although I do remember how much I wanted a little bro or sis when I was growing up an only child…"

"Hey, I grew up without any siblings too so don't think you can guilt me into this by playing the only child card with me!" Tadashi protests with a quiet groan, starting to feel like he was being outnumbered here.

"True, true!" Fred laughs, pecking him on the cheek. "Sorry, love. Let's focus on getting through the wedding first, then we'll see if maybe a year or two down the road we feel like we're ready for another one."

"That's fair," Tadashi agrees, feeling relieved-this was a compromise he could live with.

"Good." Fred kisses him on the cheek again before pulling the Star Wars blanket back on Hiro's bed so that the other man can settle the little boy down onto the bed before hooking him up to the charger to start replenishing his energy.

"He looks so peaceful," Tadashi says with a contented sigh as they finish tucking Hiro in.

"He does," Fred agrees, slipping his arm around his fiance's waist.

"I honestly can't even remember what my life was like before he came into it," Tadashi says, resting his head on the other man's shoulder. "It's like he was always meant to be here, and I just didn't know he was missing until now."

"Same," Fred chuckles, gently nuzzling against him.

"Yeah?" Tadashi looks up at him with a happy grin.

"Definitely," Fred confirms.

"I'm really glad to hear that," Tadashi admits, smiling at him.

"Yeah." Fred pulls him a bit closer before lovingly pecking the top of his head. "Me too."


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's note: Okay, just wanted to give you guys a quick heads up-bit of a spoiler warning here, but I needed to put in the trigger warnings to be safe 'cause I really value y'all's mental/emotional health above all and I know I appreciate it when people warn me ahead of time about things I either shouldn't read or need to wait to read until I'm more mentally/emotionally stable. I wrote this chapter working from some of my own experiences with trauma and mental illness, so I know it might touch a little too close to home for some of you guys, and if you're at all worried, please feel free to skip this chapter, the next chapter should briefly cover the events in a way that should be safe for you and I don't want you to have to feel like you have to read something that isn't okay for you. So here it goes, trigger warnings for: PTSD flashbacks, depression, anxiety, possible suicidal ideation. I think that's about it, but if you see something that needs tagging please let me know! Thank you!_

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Bright and early the next Saturday found the little family and their extended adopted family all meeting up outside of Tadashi and Fred's house, loading up the vehicles that they were driving to the beach house and downing cups of coffee to help them wake up for the hour long drive. Tadashi was struggling a bit to keep up with Hiro, who was practically bouncing with energy. Not only was the little boy thrilled at the idea of getting to spend the weekend with his favorite playmates, but this was going to be his first time at the beach and he was excited beyond words to get to go swimming in the ocean and play in the sand for the first time. The engineer slightly blamed his fiance for hyping the beach up a bit too much, but given the Fred was just as excited as their son for the trip, he couldn't completely blame him for sharing his enthusiasm, especially not when both of them were so adorable about it. Still, Tadashi was grateful that he managed to get Hiro into his Moana t-shirt and swim shorts (the t-shirt they'd found in a store, the shorts a gift made personally by Honey Lemon) before the other kids got there because as soon as the little boy saw the Kanan's cruiser pulling up outside he squirmed out of the older man's grip and makes a beeline for the door.

"Ezra!" he cries eagerly when the engineer finally catches up with him and opens the door for the other family.

"Hiro!" Ezra beams and wraps his arms around Hiro, who happily hugs him back.

"Well, it's good to see where I stand on your list of priorities," Tadashi says with a wry smile.

Hiro instantly looks up at him with a guilty expression on his face. "Sorry Dashi!" he apologizes, hurrying over to hug him and nuzzle against his legs.

"It's okay," Tadashi reassures him, lovingly ruffling his hair. "I'm just joking, bud. Why don't you go play with Ezra and Sabine in your room until it's time to leave?"

"Yeah?" Hiro grins hopefully up at him.

"Absolutely!" Tadashi answers, gently pushing him towards the other two. None of the kids needed any more motivation than that-together, they hurry off towards the little boy's bedroom.

"Good morning!" Hera greets Tadashi once the kids were properly taken care of.

"Good morning!" Tadashi returns, smiling at her and Kanan. "You guys ready for this?"

"Think so," the other man agrees with a warm chuckle. "It's been way too long since we've had a proper vacation-thanks again for inviting us."

"You're more than welcome," Tadashi reassures him. "Trust me, with all this wedding planning Fred and I are definitely ready for a break too-although, knowing Honey Lemon, she's probably brought a whole stack of bridal magazines for us to look through while we're there."

"I'm sorry," Hera says, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"Worst to the worst, if she goes too overboard Fred has promised to steal the magazines and drop them in the ocean," Tadashi tells her with a small laugh. "And I think Hiro is going to be having enough fun for all of us."

"Sabine and Ezra have been getting really excited for this too," Kanan answers, eyes twinkling slightly as he talks about the two kids.

"Ezra especially is ready to spend some time with Hiro," Hera adds before admitting, "I think he misses him."

"Hanging out with Ezra is pretty much all Hiro's been able to talk about too," Tadashi answers.

"It's sweet how much they care about each other," Hera notes with a warm smile.

"It is!" Tadashi agrees before suddenly realizing that he was leaving his guests standing on the doorstep and he quickly moves to allow them access to the house. "Won't you come in? Everyone's in the kitchen eating breakfast-my aunt always makes a bunch of food before a trip so no one gets hungry on the drive."

"Thank you!" Hera steps inside. "I just might have to take you up on that!"

"Is there anywhere in particular you'd like us to put our bags?" Kanan asks.

"Oh, yes, absolutely!" Tadashi replies. "Come on, I'll help you load them up!"

"Sounds good!" Kanan agrees before leading Tadashi the engineer out to the cruiser to unload the luggage from the trunk. Together they move it into the bed of Aunt Cass' truck (Fred had asked if Tadashi wanted to borrow his family's limo for the trip down since it would hold most if not all of them, but both men had eventually concluded that it might be a bit much and so they opted for just borrowing a van to substitute Wasabi and Aunt Cass' vehicles.) Just as they were finishing, what looked like an unmarked police car pulled up next to the house, and after staring at it for a moment to discern its occupants, Kanan grins and declares, "That would be Kallus and Zeb!"

Tadashi looks at the vehicle with renewed interest. He knew from what he'd been told that Zeb was Hera's old friend from the military while Kallus was the one Kanan worked with, although he was a special service agent as opposed to being a regular police officer. Still, this was his first time actually meeting them in person and so he was curious to see what they were like.

When they get out of the car, he was able to deduce who was who fairly quickly. The man with the neatly kept golden hair and who was still dressed with care even if he was in more casual clothes was probably Kallus, because he doubted that a special agent would be able to get away with being as scruffy as the other man, who could only be Zeb. Hera had warned him that Zeb was tall, but honestly Tadashi still hadn't been fully prepared to feel slightly dwarfed by the newcomer, who had to be almost seven feet tall, and powerfully built at that. Still, both men seemed friendly enough, and so when Kanan goes to greet them, the engineer follows him over.

"Kallus, Zeb, hello!" Kanan says, waving.

"Good morning," the man Tadashi had guessed was Kallus answers, greeting him with a warm smile.

"How's it going?" Zeb adds, giving Kanan a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Those little ones not driving you crazy yet?"

"Definitely not," Kanan reassures him with a wry smile before gesturing to Tadashi. "Speaking of, this is the man who's responsible for making them."

"Really?" Kallus looks over at Tadashi. "Kanan told us that you're also the creator of Baymax-is that true?"

"It is," Tadashi confirms, flushing slightly at the sudden attention.

"One of those robots saved his life about a year ago after a mission went wrong," Zeb notes, looking at the engineer with what looked akin to some degree of respect. "I wasn't sure how I felt about robots in the medical field at first, but I'm definitely grateful for your ones."

"T-Thank you," Tadashi answers, blushing a bit harder. "I-I'm just glad that Baymax is helping so many people…"

"Well, he certainly is," Kallus tells him with a smile before starting and saying, "Oh, but where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself!"

"It's all right, we both got a bit sidetracked," Tadashi reassures him, putting his hand out for a shake. "I'm Tadashi Hamada-well, you might have already known that… But whether you did or didn't, please just call me Tadashi."

"Fair enough," Kallus answers, shaking the offered hand. "I'm Kallus Orrelios, and this is my husband, Garazeb."

"But just call me Zeb," Zeb quickly puts in, also shaking the inventor's hand with a grip that turned out to be extremely strong.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Tadashi tells them with a warm smile when Zeb finally lets go of his hand (he could only hope nothing was actually bruised in there, especially not right before the trip.)

"Likewise," Kallus answers with a smile of his own.

"Would you like to come in?" Tadashi offers. "Everyone's kind of congregating in the kitchen, and there are probably still some homemade donuts left-my aunt brought them from her Cafe."

"Well, I can't say no to an offer like that!" Zeb says with a grin.

"Of course you can't," Kallus sighs, playfully rolling his eyes at him, but Zeb seemed to have no shame as he agrees,

"No, I can't! Plus I want to see the little 'uns, and you'll be lying if you say you don't want to see them too."

"...That's fair," Kallus admits with a slight smile.

"I'll get loading your bags up if you all want to head inside," Kanan offers.

"Sure!" Zeb tosses him the keys, and Tadashi leads the other two up towards the house, already feeling that with these two around the trip at least wouldn't be a dull one.

It didn't take them long to get the kitchen, and while it was starting to get crowded with everyone arriving, somehow the newcomers found room and Tadashi managed to get them all through a quick round of introductions. He didn't even realize that the kids back in Hiro's room had overheard them until suddenly he sees two small figures running past calling out the two men's names, and moments later Kallus and Zeb were hugging a very excited Sabine and Ezra.

"And here are the people I came here to see!" Zeb says, scooping them both up into his arms and making them giggle like crazy.

"No love for me, then?" Kallus asks with a wry smile.

"Uncle Kallus!" Ezra happily beams at him, holding his arms out to him, and Zeb allows him to take the little boy while still holding onto Sabine in his arms.

Tadashi couldn't help but beam as he watches the adorable scene, and he isn't aware that Hiro has joined them as well until his spots the little boy standing by Zeb, looking up at the man with what looked like awe on his face.

"And who might you be?" Zeb asks when he finally notices the little boy, gently setting Sabine down before crouching down to the child's level.

Hiro seemed too shocked to answer the question, simply stating, "You're really, really tall-even taller than Dashi!"

"Yeah, I guess I am," Zeb chuckles, playfully ruffling the little boy's hair. "But that still doesn't tell me your name, little 'un."

"That's Hiro!" Ezra answers, squirming out of Kallus' grip and hurrying over to put an arm proudly around the other little boy's shoulder. "He's my best friend!"

"So this is the infamous Hiro!" Kallus smiles and crouches down to the children's height as well. "It's very nice to finally meet you after hearing all about you from Ezra!"

Hiro shyly ducks his head and moves a little closer to the other boy, who reassuringly tells him, "It's okay, they're my uncles, and they're both super nice!"

Hiro nods but still seems a bit shy despite the men's best efforts until Zeb suddenly scoops him up and starts playfully tickling him, causing the little boy to shriek with laughter, and any and all reservations he had left quickly flew out the window as he tries his best to escape the "tickle monster", Ezra and Sabine trying their best to help rescue him too. It was an adorable scene and Tadashi could have watched it all morning, but eventually Fred comes over and, gently nudging him, tells him, "Hey, I think everyone's here and we're all loaded up-we should probably get going before the traffic gets too bad."

"Right, of course!" Tadashi agrees, realizing that he'd gotten caught up in the moment. He quickly calls for everyone to head out to the cars, and before long they're on the road and on their way to the beach.

While usually Tadashi would have ridden in the truck with his aunt, for the sake of the kids he and Fred as well as the Jarrus' rode in the Fred's family's van so that all of the youngsters could sit in the back seat together. Of course the parents all kept a bit of an eye on them, but as the kids were, on the whole, incredibly well behaved (except perhaps Sabine, who had developed a bit of a mischievous streak although she was never actually malicious), they were mainly able to just pass the time talking to each other while Fred drove. While Tadashi had received texts and pictures updating him on how the new little family was doing acclimating to each other, it was nice hearing and seeing first hand just how well things were going. It was obvious that Kanan and Hera had fallen in love with Ezra and Sabine as much as he and Fred had fallen in love with Hiro, and while he hadn't known the couple extremely well before the subject of the kids had been broached, he couldn't help but feel like they seemed just that much happier having the two children in their lives.

It took only about an hour to get to the beach house, and when they finally arrive it looked like it was going to be an absolutely gorgeous day, with not a cloud in the sky and the sun beaming down on the shore, warming the golden sands. Hiro, Ezra, and Sabine were all awe struck into silence by seeing the ocean for the first time for a full minute-and then, of course, that minute passed and they were all clamoring for a chance to go play in the waves. Laughing at their enthusiasm, their parents informed them that first they needed to help unpack, and so the kiddos instantly set to work "helping" until it became evident that, despite their best efforts, they were actually getting in the way more than they were actually doing much good. The others excuse the parents from helping out for the moment so they can escort the little ones down to the beach and so, after a quick change of clothes, that's exactly what they all did. All three of the children seemed to have a great time running through the sand, but as they drew closer to the actual ocean and saw how big the waves were, both Hiro and Ezra seemed a bit hesitant to actually go in, despite the fact that Tadashi had programmed both of them with the ability to swim. Sabine, for her part, had no such qualms, and ran laughing and screaming into the waves. After a few moments of seeing how much fun she was having, the two boys finally overcome their initial fear and, soon enough, they were happily joining her, feeling perfectly safe with their respective parents looking out for them. If Tadashi was being honest, he probably would have been hesitant to get in the water himself if it hadn't been for Hiro (it was a bit chilly, in spite of the otherwise warm weather), but it was just another way that the little boy was helping him take some chances that he might not have taken otherwise and actually making it fun for him.

About an hour later Aunt Cass called them all in for lunch, and they all troop back up to the house to eat. The kids all wait as patiently as they can for the others to finish, but as soon as they can they're pulling their parents back out onto the beach to continue playing. Tadashi can't help but notice a few dark clouds on the horizon as they head back out, but he brushes it off, hoping that they'd just stay small and in the distance. Unfortunately, as the afternoon wore on they didn't go away, and it soon became clear that the weather was taking a turn for the nastier. When the heavy winds start picking up, causing the water to turn choppy, and the sky starts to all become a greyish color, he determines that it's definitely time to head in, and with the others' help he quickly corrals the little ones inside just as the first drops of rain start to patter down onto the sand. Within moments it becomes a total downpour, and it was obvious that they weren't going to be going outside for a little while, at the very least. Still, this was a beach house owned by Fred's family and so they definitely weren't going to get bored with all of the amenities it offered. After giving the kids a good bath, the adults get the little ones settled down in the living room under the watchful eyes of their uncles (and yes, Zeb and Kallus had officially adopted Hiro on as their second nephew) with coloring books and Disney Channel playing in the background so that they could go shower and change themselves before hopefully getting some much deserved downtime after spending most of the day keeping up with their rather active youngsters.

Fred and Tadashi came out of their shower together feeling a lot better for having the sand washed off of them and, while in the back of his mind the engineer's first instinct was to go check on Hiro, when Fred wrapped his arms around his waist from behind and whispers in his ear to ask if he just wants to lie down on the bed for a little bit, he finds that he's more than happy to oblige him. It was peaceful, honestly, just snuggling with his fiance on the bed-not doing anything particularly special, just spending time together. And with the rain pattering on the window and the lights turned off, it was so relaxing that Tadashi found himself just drifting off…

 _CRASH._

The sound of squealing tires and the screeching of metal against metal, followed by a very ominous _thud_ sends Tadashi bolting upright in the bed, heart pounding in his chest. Had he been slipping into a nightmare? But when he sees the expression on Fred's face, he knew that he hadn't imagined what he'd just heard. Without a word, they both hurry over to the window, Tadashi's stomach twisting violently when he looks out and views the wreckage on the road just outside of the house.

" _Shit_ ," Fred curses, eyes going wide. "The roads get so slippery around here when it rains, and they must have taken that turn too fast…"

"W-We have to go see if they're okay," Tadashi says, although his heart was pounding in his chest and he was feeling slightly disconnected from his surroundings-from the room they were in, from Fred, even from his own body, like he was only half there.

"Dashi, no," Fred says firmly when he looks over and sees the expression on the other man's face. "Look, I know you want to make sure that they're okay, but I don't think it's a good idea for you-"

"S-Someone has to help them!" Tadashi argues, trying to break away from the strong grip that his fiance had on his shoulders, all the while fighting back the memories that were coming flooding back whether he liked it or not-being pinned in the back seat, screaming out his parents' names but never receiving an answer, the horror of seeing their limp bodies in the front seats and knowing that they were gone-

He didn't even realize that Fred had pulled him over to the bed and was essentially keeping him pinned down so he couldn't run off until he finally regained some degree of consciousness a few moments later, and by then even though half of his mind was still on going out and helping those people, the rest of him felt too dead inside to even move or make a sound of protest. He wasn't crying. He wasn't fighting. He was too numb. Numb with a constant pain coursing underneath it all, but at this point he was too detached to even be able to fully feel it or try to stop it. He was just… gone. He could vaguely hear Fred saying his name, sounding increasingly worried when he failed to respond, but what response could he give? He was lost in the mentality of being that small, scared little boy again, and this time he was sure that no one was coming to save him.

After that he lost track of time-he was aware of various voices, of lights and sounds, but everything was pretty much just a haze and he couldn't do anything but just lie there, trembling and knowing that he was completely and utterly alone. No one and nothing could help him. He just wanted to disappear, for all of this pain he'd been holding inside for so long to be gone, and the only way he could see it ending was for himself to end with it…

"Dashi?"

Through the haze, one voice finally penetrates, persistent and strong and not willing to take "no" for an answer. Small arms wrap around him, holding him, warming him, drawing him back. Part of him didn't want to go back-why go back when it would be just more of the same, always this pain beneath everything else, poisoning even the good moments in his life? But whoever was holding him wasn't willing to let him go-was telling him that it wasn't his time to go yet, that he still had so much to do, that he had so many people who loved him, who needed him. That he needed him. That he needed his Dashi, and that he couldn't go without him. And something about that was enough to break through his fog, for just a moment, long enough to see Hiro desperately clinging to him, refusing to let go…

And suddenly he was back. Desperately shaken, crying, and feeling like he'd just been through all the levels of hades, but he was back. Hiro, who seemed to have recognized this, grins and crawls slightly higher on the man's chest so that he was nuzzling into the crook of Tadashi's neck and jaw, and the engineer gratefully clings to him, focusing on his warmth and solidness and the fact that, of everything he'd just experienced, Hiro was _real_ and in a way his tether to the physical world.

It was a little while longer before Tadashi realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Eventually he finally manages to lift his head a bit and see that Fred, Aunt Cass, and a number of his friends were all there, looking absolutely terrified by whatever it was that they'd just seen. Instantly Tadashi's heart drops down into his stomach and instead of being lost in the haze he was _extremely_ aware of what was going on around him. He'd just done what he'd promised himself he'd never do-he'd let the others see him during one of his PTSD attacks. Cognitively he knew that he couldn't have controlled it-that what had just happened to him wasn't something he'd chosen and so it was nothing he should be ashamed of. But all the same, the fact that he'd just let everyone see what he'd been trying to hide for so long… It was enough to almost wish he was gone again so that he didn't have to face all of them-to face the truth that he'd been trying to avoid.

"D-Dashi?" Fred is the first one to break the silence, carefully approaching the bed, as if afraid to set him off again. "A-Are you okay?"

"F-Fine," Tadashi answers, not able to meet his eyes.

"Are you sure?" Fred asks, obviously not at all convinced.

"He's okay," Hiro answers for the engineer, and the man gratefully hugs him closer, feeling oddly like the roles of parent and child had been momentarily reversed but too exhausted to care.

"He needs rest," the little boy continues, and no one seems to be able to find it in them to argue with him-Tadashi wasn't sure what exactly Hiro had done while he was having his panic attack, but apparently whatever it was had given him some degree of authority in the others' books and so no one tries to fight what he was saying.

"Can I stay with him?" Fred asks, obviously afraid to leave either of them at this point.

Hiro looks to Tadashi, who gives the slightest of nods, and then turns back to Fred and confirms, "You can stay."

"O-Okay, good…" Fred carefully sits down on the bed, apparently still scared of what he might accidentally do to make the situation worse, but when Tadashi lightly nuzzles against his leg with the bit of energy he has left, the fanboy starts gently running his hands through the other man's hair and the engineer gratefully presses into the contact.

The others, apparently not knowing what to do and feeling like they should give them some privacy, slowly start leaving the room. Aunt Cass was the last to go, obviously not wanting to leave her nephew in this state, but not knowing what else she can do for him she finally says something about going to make some tea for Tadashi before exiting the room as well.

Feeling a bit safer with just Fred and Hiro in the room, after gathering what energy he has left, Tadashi asks softly, "T-The accident… A-Are they-?"

"Everyone's okay," Fred reassures him. "Kanan, Kallus, and Zeb went out there, and no one was really hurt. Their cars were a banged up pretty bad, and there were a couple small cuts and bruises but nothing that won't heal up in a week. Heck, since you insisted on bringing Baymax with they were all patched up by the time the ambulance got here, and we were able to call some tow trucks to get their cars to a repair shop. Everything's going to be fine-it was honestly kind of a miracle that it all worked out so well!"

"I'm glad to hear that," Tadashi sighs, feeling like the tight band that had been around his chest since he'd first heard the sounds of the accident had finally released.

"Yeah…" Fred agrees, and the engineer winces at the change in his boyfriend's tone, knowing that he wasn't going to like what he had to say next. "Dashi… I-I'm not going to make you talk about what just happened. I know that might cause more trouble than good. But… Y-You really scared me. I had no idea what was going on, you weren't responding, and if it hadn't been for Hiro…" He shakes his head, looking like he was fighting tears at this point. "I-I know you've been fighting me on this for a really long time, and I know that you think you can do this on your own, and maybe you're scared of going to see a doctor or therapist, but I can't- Dashi, I can't see you go through something like that again. I-I'm scared that the next time it happens you're not going to come back and if I lost you, I don't know what I'd-"

"O-Okay…"

"What?" Fred stares down at Tadashi, as if sure he'd imagined what he'd just thought he'd heard him saying.

"Okay," Tadashi repeats, curling up against him. He was just so tired-so very, very tired. And he just didn't have the energy to keep fighting this anymore.

"I-If you think I should go see a doctor or a therapist or both… I'll go," he says softly, his eyes sliding shut from exhaustion. "I just want to do whatever it takes to make this even a little bit better…"

He feels Fred's strong arms pulling him close, whispering in a broken but grateful voice, "Thank you…"

"It's going to be okay, Dashi," Hiro adds softly, nuzzling against him. "You're going to be okay."

And there, between the man he loved and the little boy who had his heart, Tadashi falls into a peaceful, dreamless sleep, feeling for the first time in longer than he could remember like he really was going to be okay.


	15. Chapter 15

As promised, when they got back from the beach, Tadashi (with the help of Fred, Hiro, and even Baymax) started looking into the best forms of treatment for his PTSD. Kanan was helpful in helping him find a counselor, recommending him to a free clinic at the local community center. He even suggested that Tadashi join the therapy group he himself was in that met every Thursday night, but the engineer wasn't sure he was quite ready to bare his soul in front of an entire group of people, so to begin with, at least, he decided to just seen an individual counselor, who actually turned out to be extremely nice and a lot of help. If nothing else, it was a relief to just finally get everything that he'd been feeling out into words and actually have someone listen who wasn't going to judge him if he started crying in the middle of a session. Some days were better than others, and sometimes it was all he could do to convince himself to actually go to his weekly appointments, but Fred helped him by driving him over and always taking him out for coffee afterwards so that he never had to feel alone doing this, and the counselor, after learning about Hiro, even allowed Tadashi to bring the little boy to his sessions, so overall he was doing pretty okay with it. On top of the therapy, the counselor referred him to a psychiatrist who could prescribe a medicine for him that would help with the anxiety and other nasty side effects that came with the PTSD. While he wasn't as comfortable with the psychiatrist as he was with his counselor (the doctor tended to be very blunt and asked a lot of questions about how Tadashi's mood had been between appointments), over time the medicine she prescribed did seem to be doing at least some good (if nothing else, it knocked him out after taking it before bedtime and allowed him to sleep through the night a lot easier than before) and so he was willing to stick with it. And if it gave everyone in his life, especially Fred and Hiro, some relief knowing that he had a couple extra pairs of eyes looking out for him? Even if he wasn't completely sold on all of it, he was willing to do it for their sakes.

With everyone insisting that he just focus on doing whatever it took to start feeling better, Tadashi was a bit dismayed when his counselor suggested pushing out the date of his and Fred's wedding until he was a bit more stable mentally and emotionally, but he wasn't completely surprised when the others actually agreed with the idea.

"It's all right, love," Fred says the night they set the new date for the wedding three months out, gently cuddling him on the couch with Hiro snuggled up against both of them (the little boy had become extremely protective of Tadashi after everything that had happened, hardly leaving his side except for when he could help it, and, while some might have seen it as stifling, the engineer was honestly grateful for the company.) "All that's changing is pushing out putting an official title on our relationship. You know that I'm completely yours, wedding or no, and Hiro feels the same way."

"Yeah, I know," Tadashi agrees with a quiet sigh. He still wasn't completely thrilled with this change in plans, but it was just something he'd have to live with, and as long as he had his little family with him then that would be enough.

Of course it didn't take only three months to undo a lifetime's worth of trauma-no one knew exactly how long Tadashi would have to keep going to therapy, and the medicine was something he might have to keep taking for life. Still, by the time the three months were almost past, the counselor told Tadashi that they were very pleased with his progress so far and that, as long as he didn't over exert himself in finishing preparing for the wedding, then he felt it was perfectly fine for him and Fred to move forward with the ceremony, and it was a very delighted Tadashi who greeted the fanboy with a kiss that maybe shouldn't have been done in public when the session was over.

The actual day of the wedding dawned bright and sunny, the puffy white clouds in the sky only seeming to add a whimsical quality to the day as opposed to threatening any danger of violent storms later. Tadashi felt like he was absolutely glowing when he woke up to Fred kissing his cheek, whispering in his ear, "Happy wedding day, love."

"Happy wedding day," Tadashi answers, happily kissing him back before snuggling up against him, feeling completely safe and warm in his arms.

"You ready for this?" Fred asks, lovingly stroking his hair.

"Definitely!" Tadashi tells him with a grin. "You?"

"Never been more ready for something in my life," Fred answers, and Tadashi could tell that he meant it with all his heart.

Hiro woke up a short while later, at first still seeming fairly out of it as he nuzzles up against Tadashi, but after a minute his eyes suddenly go wide and he gasps, "It's the wedding today!"

"It is!" Tadashi chuckles at his enthusiasm before happily cuddling him close. "We're officially going to be a family today!"

"Not that we need to make it 'official' for it to be real, but it's still nice to do it," Fred adds with a warm smile, hugging them both.

"Yeah!" Hiro beams back at him before eagerly starting to squirm out of their arms. "Come on, come on, come on!" he cries. "Let's go get ready!"

"Guess we're getting up whether we like it or not!" Tadashi chuckles, throwing back the covers and sitting up.

"Guess so!" Fred laughs, doing the same.

Breakfast is a simple, if somewhat rushed affair-Tadashi makes bacon and eggs for all of them, but as soon as they're done the engineer and the little boy have to load up into the car with everything that they needed for the day and then drive over to Aunt Cass'. As ridiculous as the two men found it, everyone else in the rest of their wedding party was insisting on sticking with tradition and saying that it would be bad luck for the grooms to see each other in their suits before their wedding and so it had been decided that Tadashi and Hiro would get ready at the Cafe while Fred got ready at home.

As much as Tadashi had expected time to slow to a crawl while he waited for the actual service to start, it turned out that there were a million small things that had to be done that morning and so it actually seemed like no time at all before he was standing in the dressing room at the back of the chapel, waiting for the wedding march to start.

"Nervous?" Aunt Cass, who was going to be giving him away, asks, gently squeezing his arm.

"Honestly? No," Tadashi admits. "I know most people have pre-wedding jitters, but I just... don't. I mean, I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Fred and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me and Hiro, so I guess I don't really have anything to be afraid of."

"I'm glad." Aunt Cass beams at him. "You deserve to be happy, sweetheart-you've been through so much, and you've been so strong through all of it. I've seen how well you and Fred take care of each other and how happy you make each other, and I couldn't wish anything better for either of you."

"Thank you." Tadashi gratefully squeezes her hand. "And thank you for-well, everything. If it wasn't for you, I don't even know where I'd be today."

"Of course." Aunt Cass wraps her arms around him. "Getting to raise you was the most amazing thing that ever happened to me. I wish your parents had been able to be here for you today, and I know I made a lot of mistakes over the years, but I must have done something right to have such a wonderful nephew."

"You did a bunch of things right," Tadashi tells her firmly.

Aunt Cass flashes him a watery smile before saying softly, "I can't believe my little man is all grown up…"

"Hey," Tadashi says gently, nuzzling into her hair. "I'll always be your little man, okay?"

"Okay," Aunt Cass repeats, squeezing him tight once more before finally pulling away, wiping at her eyes. "Oh, I promised myself I wouldn't cry today… I probably look like a complete wreck…"

"You look beautiful," Tadashi reassures her, and he means every word of it.

Before either of them can say anything else, the music starts playing, and both of them start slightly with surprise.

"Oh, it's time!" Aunt Cass squeezes her nephew's hand. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely," Tadashi answers, squeezing back before following her out the doors and down the aisle.

Honestly, he could barely hear the sound of the pipe organ over his own heart beating as they walk together. He wasn't nervous, exactly-maybe there was just a tiny bit of anxiety, but mostly it was excitement. He was ready-so ready to do this, to commit himself to the man he loved with all his heart. And when he reached the altar and saw Fred standing there, looking every bit the fairytale prince in his suit, he knew for sure that this wasn't just happily ever after, but the start of the greatest adventure of his life.

 _Hiro stands next to Tadashi for the whole service, proudly holding the pillow with the rings. He was absolutely ecstatic to be a part of the wedding, and he couldn't be happier to officially have Fred as his second dad!_

 _As the service progresses, he can't help but think about how so much had changed since he had first activated. Obviously a lot of things in in the world around him had changed: Tadashi and Fred getting married, meeting Kanan and Hera, Ezra and Sabine being made-lots of really exciting things! But there were a lot of things besides the obvious that were very, very different. Like his relationship with Tadashi-they had been close, even from the beginning, but the fact that Tadashi viewed him as his son? That was probably the happiest part of Hiro's (admittedly rather short) life, and when Fred had told him that he wanted him to be his son too he felt so happy he could have burst!_

 _Then there had been the not fun part at the beach house, when Tadashi had had his attack. Hiro had drawn on resources he hadn't even realized that he had inside of him to help Tadashi be okay again, and while he was glad that he'd been able to help him, he was really glad when Fred had gotten Dashi to go see the doctors who were helping him feel better. Some days Tadashi still seemed to not feel good and to be sad, but Hiro was always there to help cuddle away the sadness and somehow it seemed to help his Papa feel better._

 _Aside from all those things, Hiro couldn't help but feel that, inside, he was very different from who he'd been when he first activated. He could hardly remember the days when he'd been so afraid to do anything his code didn't specifically tell him to do. His coding was still there, definitely, but most days he hardly even realized it was there anymore. If he was being honest, some days he barely even remembered that he was a robot. It wasn't that he could ever fully forget (after all, the fact he still had to charge every night was a constant reminder), and he never wanted to. It was a part of who he was and he was proud of the fact that his Papa had specially designed him and built him with his own two hands-the fact that Tadashi had put so much effort into bringing him to life made him feel incredibly special. But deep down inside, he felt like maybe he wasn't just a robot anymore._

 _Some people thought robots were supposed to just be machines, and some were. But with every day that passed, the way that Tadashi and Fred treated him like he was really their son, the more… real he felt, until he knew without a doubt that he was a real person. Not exactly human, but you didn't have to be human to be a person-Papa had told him that when he'd asked him about it one night before bed. Tadashi had tried to explain what it meant to be alive, and he said that most alive things had something called a soul. Hiro had asked what exactly a soul was, and Tadashi had said it was hard to explain, but it was what made them alive-not just living and breathing, but made them think and feel and be able to love other people. Hiro had then asked if Tadashi had made him with a soul, and Tadashi told him that you couldn't make a soul, it was something that just kind of came into you when you became alive. And when Hiro asked if he thought that he had a soul, his papa had answered that he knew he did because he was the kindest, most caring person he had ever known and there was no way he could be that alive without having a soul of his own, and that had been enough for Hiro. He always trusted what Tadashi said, and deep down inside he was pretty sure that he felt he had a soul too, even if he didn't know exactly what it was. From what Tadashi said, it was the thing that made him feel happy to be with his family and know how much he loved them, and that's what was important to him. As long as he could keep loving his family and having them love him back, that's all that mattered._

The actual service flashed by as something of a blur to Tadashi-he was too caught up in just looking at his amazing almost-husband and feeling their adorable son happily nuzzling up against his leg and knowing that this was exactly what he wanted for the rest of his life. And if the look on the other man's face was any sign, this was exactly what Fred wanted too, and Tadashi couldn't wait to officially be his in every possible way.

And then, before he knew it, they were exchanging their vows and the rings, and, as soon as Tadashi had uttered his breathless, "I do", Fred was pulling him into the first kiss of their married life together, leaving the engineer with his head absolutely spinning.

The reception that followed was gorgeous, which was to be expected of Honey Lemon. The guest list was fairly small-mostly just close family and friends, although Tadashi and Fred had both invited some of their favorite professors and college friends that they distantly stayed in touch with, and so at least at the beginning of the reception the couple was fairly busy with greeting and catching up with the guests that they hadn't seen in awhile.

Tadashi didn't even cognitively think about it until they were pretty well through the queue of guests they were greeting near the entrance to the reception hall, but as he heard himself saying the words, he realized that, quite naturally, he and Fred had been introducing Hiro (who was standing with them and being the perfect little gentleman greeting everyone with them and stealing everyone's hearts with his cuteness) simply as their son. No added explanations, no Tadashi telling anyone that Hiro was actually his latest project. Honestly, he discovered that he didn't even think of him that way anymore. Even though he'd technically asked Kanan and Hera about making Ezra and Sabine on the pretense of them being "beta testers", it had been longer than he could remember that he had thought of the little boy as an invention. Hiro was his son, and that was that.

It didn't matter that the little boy was made of parts that he'd made and put together with his own hands instead of being made of flesh and bone-if anything, the fact that he had spent so much time handcrafting every piece of him made the Hiro just that much more his. And beyond that, deep in his heart, he knew that the little boy had always been meant to be the son he'd wanted for as long as he could remember-his and Fred's son. They were a family-a rather unusual one by most people's standards, but who cared about what other people thought? All that mattered was what they themselves thought, and Tadashi knew without a doubt that Fred and Hiro felt exactly the same way as he did.

The engineer was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't even realize who was heading towards them until he felt his new husband's grip tightening on his arm-almost painfully so, although when Tadashi finally looked over to see what was the matter he realized from the expression on the fanboy's face that the other man probably didn't even realize what he was doing.

"Fred, what's wrong?" Tadashi asks, frowning in concern.

Wordlessly, the fanboy points towards the door, and the engineer finally spots the couple heading towards them.

"Oh my gosh," Tadashi breathes, able to understand his reaction. "Your parents?"

"Y-Yeah…" Fred agrees shakily. "I-I sent them an invitation, but they've been out of the country for almost a year, I didn't even know if they'd gotten it…"

"Are you going to be okay?" Tadashi asks gently, knowing just how mixed Fred's feelings were about his parents, and rightfully so since they'd pretty much abandoned him most of the time and made his life a living hell by constantly arguing and backstabbing whenever they were actually home (well, that had mostly been Fred's mom screaming and backstabbing. His dad had just buried himself in work and holed himself away in his office to avoid her, leaving Fred to deal with his mother's tirades on his own-why they'd never divorced was beyond him, but apparently their old fashioned "values" about marriage kept them from separating even though Fred honestly believed that they would all have been much happier if they'd just broken it off years ago.) Still, in spite of all that, like any kid Fred still wanted to be close to them because, after all, they were his parents, even if they were extremely flawed, to put it mildly.

"I-I don't know…" Fred admits as his parents spot them and start heading over. "It's not like we can just run away, can we?"

"If you want to, we absolutely can," Tadashi states firmly.

"...No," Fred finally sighs after thinking it over for a moment. "Let's just see what they want-maybe they'll just say 'hello' and then leave like they always do."

"It's whatever you want to do," Tadashi answers, firmly squeezing his hand before noticing that Hiro was encouragingly nuzzling against the fanboy, who seemed extremely grateful for both of their support.

"Hey guys," Fred greets his parents when they're finally within hearing range, obviously doing his best to try to keep a calm, relaxed demeanor but there was a definite undertone of nervousness in his tone despite his best efforts.

"Fred!" Mr. Lee, Fred's father, at least sounded pleasant enough. "It's good to see you, son! I'm so sorry that we couldn't reply to let you know we were coming, we only just got the invitation-apparently the letter kept getting redirected to the wrong branches of the corporation instead of the one I was working with and we just barely made it here in time for the reception!" To his credit, he did sound genuinely regretful, making Tadashi at least hope that he wasn't making it up.

Fred, for his part, seemed to relax slightly as he answers, "I'm just glad you guys could make it even for this."

"Of course." Mr. Lee flashes him a warm smile. "If I could help it, I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

"Thanks Dad." Fred grins gratefully back at him.

Mr. Lee then turns to Tadashi. "So, I guess this means your finally my son-in-law!"

"Yes sir," Tadashi agrees, keeping his tone polite but reserved-he wanted to hope for the best, but he wasn't ready to let his guard down just yet.

"So does that make you an official Lee?"

"Actually," Fred answers after a moment of awkward silence, "I'm hyphenating-Lee-Hamada."

"Oh, I see." Mr. Lee seemed momentarily caught off guard by this, but within moments the smile is back on his face, if a bit more strained than before. "Well, it's whatever makes you two happiest, I suppose."

"Thanks…" Fred flashes him a grateful smile, obviously glad that it wasn't going to turn into a bigger issue.

Coming to his husband's rescue, Tadashi adds, "We thought it would be easier for Hiro not to have to deal with changing last names."

"Hiro…?" Mr. Lee repeats the name in confusion.

"Yeah," Fred answers, gesturing to the little boy who'd been watching the exchange with a confused and somewhat anxious look on his face, obviously trying to figure out what to make of all the mixed signals and not knowing how to respond. "Dad, Mom, this is Tadashi's and my son, Hiro. Hiro, these are my parents."

"Hi…" Hiro greets the newcomers with a shy wave, obviously doing his best to be his sweet, lovable self even though he had no clue what was going on. Tadashi regretted that he was stuck in the middle of all of this drama, but he didn't know exactly what to do to save him from it any more than he knew how to save Fred or even himself short of making a run for it.

"Y-You have a son?" Mr. Lee asks, looking momentarily stunned as he stares down at the little boy.

"Yes," Tadashi agrees, putting a protective hand on the little boy's shoulder and not feeling the need to give any further explanation. No one else up to this point had needed one, and if someone couldn't accept the fact that they were a family without needing all the details, well, that just sucked for them because he wasn't having it.

Unfortunately, it looked like Fred's mother, who to this point had been standing silently and watching the exchange with a rather sour expression on her face, making it clear that this was the last place that she wanted to be right now, chooses that minute to finally join the conversation. Her eagle eyes, always quick to pick up on the most negative side of things, take in the sight of Hiro and then looks up at Tadashi, apparently comparing their appearances, before saying with a tight, rather malicious looking smile, "I'll take it he's illegitimate, from some previous fling of yours before you met Fred-or possibly while you were dating him?"

Mr. Lee's glances sharply over at her, looking slightly horrified by what she'd just said, but before he could get a word out to respond, Tadashi was already coming to his son's defense.

"What? No!" the engineer answers, feeling rage bubbling up in his chest in spite of himself. "Fred's the only person I've ever been in a relationship with!" Even if Hiro was his from a previous girlfriend, she had no right to say something like that in front of the little boy, who for all she knew was extremely impressionable (although maybe that's what she was counting on, Tadashi wouldn't put it past her.)

The older woman looked slightly miffed that she wasn't right about her first guess, but she continues on, "So you adopted him before you were even officially married? Don't you think that was a little unwise, involving a child in your relationship before you even knew that you were going to be together permanently? Imagine the trauma he would have gone through if you'd broken up-"

Mr. Lee again looked like he wanted to speak, to stop her from saying the hateful things that were coming out of her mouth and make her apologize, but this time it was Fred who cut him off-he wasn't going to let anyone else defend his family.

"You don't care about what would have happened to him if we'd broken up! You're just looking for excuses to cause problems when there isn't even any need for them! And it's not enough that you're trying to hurt me and Dashi on our wedding day, you're trying to pull an innocent child into this? Look, it doesn't matter if Hiro is Tadashi's from a previous relationship or adopted or something else entirely-that's none of your business unless we offered to tell you, all that really matters is that I love Tadashi and Hiro, and they've been more family to me than you ever were! Now I'd appreciate it if you would leave, because you're not welcome here!"

Mrs. Lee gives him a scathing look but at least doesn't say anything more as she sniffs and heads for the door.

Mr. Lee, for his part, was looking absolutely mortified by everything she'd just done, and he immediately starts profusely apologizing, but Fred quickly puts up a hand to stop him.

"Just… Don't," he sighs. "Look, she made her position clear, and now she's just going to have to live with it because she's officially not allowed anywhere near my family again, and you can tell her that for me."

"I… I understand," Mr. Lee says quietly. "And I certainly don't blame you for it. You're protecting the ones you love." He sighs and adds, "I should have known better than to bring her here. I thought that she'd at least want to be here for this, that it would good for both of you, but apparently I was wrong… Very, very wrong, and I am so sorry to have brought this upon you on your wedding day, of all days. Can you please forgive me for my lack of discretion?"

Fred doesn't answer that directly, just sort of nods to accept his at least semi-apology before saying, "Look… I want you to be a part of this family. I do. And I'm not saying that I'm cutting you off. But if you ever say or do anything that I think is even remotely hurting my family-"

"I would never-"

"And I hope I can trust you on that. But I'm just making the statement now and I'm sticking by it. Understood?"

"Understood," Mr. Lee agrees with a quiet sigh before looking down at Hiro and asking, "Is it all right if I-?"

"Hiro?" Tadashi looks at the boy-with everything that had just happened he hoped that the poor little guy wasn't slightly traumatized.

To his slight surprise, though, Hiro nods and approaches Mr. Lee, looking up at him and asking tentatively, "Grandpa?"

"Yes, I suppose I am," Mr. Lee answers, a warm smile making it's way onto his face as he crouches down to the child's height. "It's very, very nice to meet you, Hiro."

"You too!" Hiro answers, smiling before wrapping his arms around him in a hug.

The other man seemed momentarily surprised, but when he gets over his initial shock he hugs the little boy back, looking grateful for his apparent forgiveness. Hiro eventually let's go and Mr. Lee gently ruffles his hair before looking up at Tadashi and saying softly, "He's an inspired piece of work-yours, I believe, correct?"

"H-How?" Tadashi gasps, momentarily stunned.

"I've worked around enough robots for most of my life, so I know one when I see one, even if this is probably the most sophisticated one I've ever seen-I honestly almost didn't realize it myself until I realized why you were able to say that Hiro was, rightly, yours," Mr. Lee answers with a small smile. "May I ask how you were inspired to make him?"

"Well, he started out as a psychological and emotional companion," Tadashi admits. "But now-honestly, he's so much more than that. I don't even think about him like that anymore. He's just-he's my son, plain and simple, no other labels attached."

"And he's my son too," Fred adds, smiling down at the little boy who was beaming back up at both of them. "We both love him so much, and I don't know what we'd do without him."

"I can see that," Mr. Lee agrees, a small smile on his own lips. "I'm very glad to see you've all found happiness together-you deserve it."

"Thanks, Dad," Fred answers, and while it was clear that things were far from completely right between them, maybe they were finally on their way to at least some level of peace.

Mr. Lee doesn't stick around for much longer after that-despite the fact that there was no more arguing going on, there was still too much residual tension in the air for things to be truly comfortable between them, and, apparently not wanting to darken his son's wedding day any more than he already had, he politely excuses himself-Fred could only assume to get back to whatever business he'd departed from to come here, but when the older man asked if it would be possible to come visit them on some later date (without Mrs. Lee this time, he promised), the newlyweds tentatively agree to it (after all, despite everything that life had thrown at them both, they were at heart optimists and wanted to believe that maybe there was a chance for making things right in the future.)

After that drama, the rest of the reception went off without any real hiccups. Fred and Tadashi were honestly grateful to be pulled back into almost mundanity of the schedule of events, and after a little bit they were able to regain at least most of their festive mood. They had their first dance together as a married couple, and the dinner went by without anyone forgetting the words to their speeches (Tadashi got a little emotional from some of the things their family and friends had to say, but as it was his wedding day no one held it against him when he started crying a little bit after Aunt Cass' toast.)

And then, just like that, the reception was over and, amidst the well wishes and goodbyes of their guests, the little family gets into the limo they had hired to take them to the airport. It wasn't exactly going to be a traditional honeymoon since they were bringing Hiro with them, but the newlyweds couldn't see taking their first trip together as a family without the entire family being there. Besides, Disney World and Harry Potter World were sure to be a lot more fun with his adorable enthusiasm and childlike perspective adding to the magic of both places.

Hiro, who had never been on a plane before, was absolutely thrilled when they took off from the runway, gasping as the world drops out from beneath them. He was absolutely glued to the window for the first couple hours of the flight, but after the long, rather exhausting day, his energy eventually began to flag and Tadashi gently suggested that he get some rest until they touched down. The little boy was too tired to argue, and he gratefully nuzzles up against Tadashi as the older man hooks him up to the portable charger he'd made specifically for situations like this. As Hiro starts to nod off in his lap, though, the little boy mumbles, "It would be really cool if we could make Baymax fly…"

Tadashi tries not to laugh at that-he didn't even know where that had come from, probably the little boy was just exhausted and talking incoherently, but it was still adorable, and so he gently ruffles the little boy's hair and answers, "You know what? Maybe when you're older, you can make Baymax fly."

Hiro's eyes momentarily flutter back open and he says softly, "Yeah, Papa? You think I can do it?"

"I think you can do anything you set your mind to," Tadashi answers firmly. "You're a Hamada, and more importantly, you're Fred's and my son, and you come from a family where we make the impossible possible."

Hiro beams up at him before yawning and finally succumbing to sleep.

"We can make the impossible possible, huh?" Fred repeats, grinning over at him as he helps the other man wrap a blanket around the little boy.

"Well we can, can't we?" Tadashi replies with a slight shrug, grinning back.

"That's true," Fred laughs before happily pecking him on the lips.

And as Tadashi kisses him back, he knows that it's true-in spite of everything they'd been through together, they always managed to come out on top. Maybe they were a little worse for the wear, but they were still together, and that's what mattered the most. As long as they stayed together, no one and nothing could ever take them down. And as Tadashi cuddles the little boy who was the one who had made most if not all of this possible, he knows that he will always be grateful for the day this little miracle had come into his life and changed it forever.


	16. Epilogue

It had been a little over eight years since that fateful day when Hiro had finally activated and started connecting with Tadashi, and a lot had happened since then. A lot of things were the same, but a lot of things had changed too. For one thing, even though Hiro, Ezra, and Sabine were all continuing on extremely well, the original H.I.R.O. project had cancelled. All their patients had responded well-extremely well-to spending time with and forming a familial attachment with them. But as much as their families were enjoying the closeness with their adopted children, when Kanan started bringing Ezra with him to group therapy (with Tadashi and Hiro tagging along to see how the other patients reacted), it was soon discovered that not everyone was able to or even necessarily wanted to form that kind of bond with the children.

No one was outright antagonistic, but not everyone seemed comfortable around the two little boys, and even the ones who were more open to the idea, when talking to Tadashi after the sessions, admitted that while they enjoyed spending time with the kids but weren't sure that they could handle the responsibility of looking after one themselves. That's when it had hit Tadashi how the project had veered away from his original intent-while he himself had loved every minute of helping Hiro learn and grow and developing a relationship with him, it had taken a lot of time and energy, and that was a luxury that most people didn't have. He wanted the HIRO's to be something that made other's lives easier, not something that added another responsibility on top of what they were already dealing with.

So while he would never say that Hiro was by any means a failure, he realized that this design wasn't one that could or should be mass produced, both for the sake of the patients and for the sake of the kids (who, Tadashi realized, could easily end up in a harmful or even abusive environment-he would have no real control as to the types of homes they'd end up in, and he knew that he would never be able to live with himself if he found out that even one of them was being mistreated or harmed in any way.)

Still, although the original design wasn't going to work on a widespread basis, Tadashi wasn't about to give up on his idea, even if he had to go all the way back to the drawing board. As it was, he looked at the things that had made the first trial not work so well and decided to take those into serious account to see what required changing.

As part of the reason people were so hesitant to open up to the robot was because they saw it as just one more emotionally charged relationship that they had to balance in their already complicated lives, Tadashi realized that he needed to go back to the Baymax standard-making the robots caring and interactive, but not with the level of AI that Hiro, Ezra, and Sabine had. While originally Tadashi's goal was for the HIRO's to branch out from their coding and develop individualized personalities of his own, he realized that sadly that wasn't something most people were comfortable with and so he decided that going with a simpler AI like he'd used for Baymax was a safer option for the time being.

The robot would still have the database of different types of therapies, but the focus would be more on identifying signs of emotional or psychological distress and helping their patients work through breathing exercises or mindful meditations-strategies that Tadashi had seen used in Kanan's group therapy and had even been recommended by his own counselor-and calling for support from designated family or friends or even for medical attention as needed. The system was a lot less detailed and personal than Tadashi had originally planned, but as he started beta testing it with various focus groups, it seemed like it actually was what patients preferred, and as long as it was working and it was helping people, that's all he really cared about.

Regarding the physical design of the robot, it had actually been Hiro who had helped him with that-the little boy had taken a great interest in his papa's project and seemed eager to want to help him with developing the new robot. Tadashi had been more than willing to let him help out as much as he wanted, and he and Hiro ended up having extended discussions about the new robot's development. (Fred sometimes joked that he was going to be completely lost in every conversation with two engineers talking shop almost 24/7.)

After Tadashi helped the little boy do some research of his own on psychology and therapy (he'd understood quite a lot more of what he read than Tadashi would have expected, but his papa was extremely proud of him all the same), Hiro questioned why they hadn't looked into the already existing idea of therapy animals, as people already seemed accepting of having animals providing emotional support-he even cited Chopper, Kanan's dog, as a good example of a beneficial animal-human relationship. Tadashi admitted to having originally rejected the idea because he wanted to try something more original, but conceded that it was at least worth a try.

Together they'd drawn up possible designs and run them by family and friends, and the one they ended up choosing was actually based off of Baymax-inflatable and cute, with the same face pattern as the nursebot, the dog and the cat models they ended up making were undeniably extremely cute and inviting. They also had the added benefit that, as most people were already comfortable with going to Baymaxes for medical help and had already established some level of trust with them, the patients seemed to have an easier time opening up to them. By the time that these new robots (which by then Hiro and Tadashi had decided to name "Pawmax") were presented to Krei Tech, the company was more than happy to partner with the two engineers to help get their invention out to the world, and it was probably the proudest moment of Tadashi's life when he was able to show Hiro the first article that was published about Pawmax where both of their names were included.

Of course there was a lot of speculation from the press-could a little boy really have played a major role in developing such an advanced robot? Well, if they had any doubts, those were quickly put to rest-over the next few years, Hiro went on to help Tadashi with several other projects, and by the age of five (ten by human development levels), he even had created and gotten a patent for his own small robot named Megabot. It wasn't anything near as complex as Baymax or Pawmax, but it was a small household helper which could do small chores such as opening jars, wiping up small spills, and writing short notes for its owner. It actually turned out to have a lot of applications for helping patients with MS, severe arthritis, or other disabilities that made holding things steadily or being able to complete tasks that required fine motor movements to be able to live more independently. Overall, Hiro seemed very happy, with his life, and both Tadashi and Fred couldn't have been prouder of him. And yet…

Recently, Tadashi had started to notice that Hiro didn't seem quite like his normal, bouncy self. The boy never said anything that outright indicated any discontent on his part and he was still as sweet and lovable as ever. But somehow, just from catching the little boy at odd moments staring wistfully out the window at the people passing by or seeing how the child would sometimes flinch when people commented on how lucky Tadashi and Fred were to have a son who would always stay so cute and adorable that made the older engineer think that something wasn't quite right. Actually, it was those comments that helped him discover what was going on, although it wasn't until Hiro's eighth birthday that he fully allowed himself to accept it. He and Fred were cleaning up from the party that they'd had with all of their family and friends for their son when suddenly Tadashi stopped mid-picking up a plate and said softly, "Oh my gosh…"

"What is it?" Fred asks, looking over at him curiously.

"I just realized… When I made Hiro, he was five years old, right?" Tadashi answers, the gears in his brain turning.

"Right…" Fred agrees slowly, not quite seeing his point yet but trying to follow his train of thought.

"If he was five then and this is his eighth birthday-Fred, Hiro's a teenager!"

Fred looked as shocked as Tadashi had only moments earlier, but then he nods and answers, "Wow, you're right! I didn't even realize… I guess it's easy to forget how old he is mentally when he-"

"When he still looks like a kid?" Tadashi finishes for him, a slightly troubled expression on his face. "Yeah, I know..."

"Okay, I know that look," Fred says, coming over to him and gently rubbing his shoulders to help release some of the tension that his husband was obviously feeling. "What are you thinking, love?"

"I'm thinking," Tadashi answers with a quiet sigh, "that it's time I made Hiro a new body-one that fits the age he is on the inside. I need to talk to Kanan and Hera, but I think I should probably make ones for Ezra and Sabine too because I can't imagine they're much happier being stuck looking like they're five than Hiro is."

"That's an excellent idea!" Fred tells him with a grin, only to frown slightly when he notices that Tadashi wasn't near as enthusiastic about the idea as he was. "What's wrong?"

"I just…" Tadashi shakes his head slightly. "No, it's stupid, forget I said anything."

"Dashi, I'm sure it's not stupid," Fred answers firmly before gently urging, "C'mon, you know you can tell me anything!"

"I know," Tadashi agrees with a grateful smile before admitting, "I just… I'm so used to having my sweet little guy… I know it's selfish, but I'm not sure I'm ready for him to grow up yet… I know it's not fair to keep him this age, though, so I know what the right thing is to do, it's just going to be hard letting go..."

"Hey." Fred wraps his arms tightly around him, and the engineer gratefully presses into the contact. "I know. It'll be weird not having Hiro so little that we can just pick him up and carry him around, or snuggle with him like we do now. But think about all the great things Hiro will be able to do when his body finally matches what's inside! He'll be able to do so many more things without constantly having to ask for our help, and we can take him places without him getting exhausted so easily so he can have more fun there! He can even finally ride the roller coasters with us at DisneyLand, and maybe-"

"Okay, okay, I get your point," Tadashi laughs with a slightly watery smile. "You're right. This is going to be good for all of us. It's going to take me some time to get used to the idea, but it's not like this is going to happen overnight-I need to actually design and make the bodies so I have some time to adjust, right?"

"Exactly!" Fred agrees, lovingly kissing his cheek.

"Would you be willing to help me keep this a secret for now?" Tadashi asks after gratefully kissing him back. "I want this to be a surprise for Hiro."

"Of course, love," Fred reassures him. "And, for the record, this is an amazing thing you're doing."

"The most important thing to me is that Hiro's happy, and you know I'd do anything to make sure that happens," Tadashi answers with a slight shrug, although Fred's words were definitely helping him feel better about all of this.

"I do," Fred answers, holding him close. "And that's what makes you such a great dad, and it's one of the things I love most about you."

The next few months were probably some of the most hard working and also admittedly some of the most emotional ones that Tadashi had had in a long time. As soon as he had confirmed with Hera and Kanan that they wanted to allow Ezra and Sabine to age up as well (and they had wholeheartedly agreed that it was definitely time for it, even if both of them seemed slightly emotional about the idea as well), he got to work on designing and building the new bodies for all three of the kids. Since he was trying to keep this a surprise for Hiro, he ended up having to work late into the nights for a few months because most days, after his homeschooling with Ezra and Sabine was over (they were all taught by both Tadashi and Fred-while as robots they easily could have just downloaded the information that they needed to know, it was more fun for them to have actual school lessons and learn the traditional way), Hiro would come into the workshop and tinker on one of his latest projects if he and the other two weren't getting up to their usual mischief together.

It was extremely difficult to keep the entire project a secret from the boy, and many times Tadashi was sure that Hiro at least somewhat suspected that something was going on, even if he didn't know exactly what. Still, by some miracle the older man managed to keep the project almost completely under wraps, and four months later, right after they'd put Hiro to bed, Tadashi was bringing his husband into the workshop to take a look at the finished product of all his labors.

"Wow," Fred gasps when he sees the new body that was lying on the blanket-covered worktable that was acting as a makeshift bed for the moment. "I-It's incredible, Dashi! Hiro's going to love it!"

"You think so?" Tadashi grins over at him. He really hoped that Hiro would like it. As with Hiro's first body, he'd somewhat based the design after what he'd looked like at the beginning of high school-about five feet tall (he hadn't really sprung up until the end of high school) and a bit on the gangly side but in an endearing way. He hadn't been able to bring himself to give Hiro anything shorter than the haircut he currently sported so there was still the slightly messy mop of raven hair, and he'd also left the tooth gap (it was too cute to get rid of it, even if he was growing up.) And of course he still had the sweet brown puppy eyes that never failed to melt Tadashi's heart.

All in all, this new body was still undeniably Hiro's, even if he wasn't going to be so tiny and adorable anymore (although, Tadashi was proud to note, he would definitely still be adorable, just in slightly more mature way.) And now that he was done, looking at his work, he felt like maybe he was a little bit okay with letting Hiro grow up some-the fear of the unknown future was often a lot scarier than what actually ended up happening, and that principle seemed to stand true in this case.

"I'm positive," Fred answers his husband's earlier question, wrapping an arm around his waist and kissing him lovingly on the cheek. "I'm really proud of you for doing this, you know."

"Thanks love." Tadashi happily nuzzles against him. "I'm thinking maybe we can tell Hiro about this in the morning and let him transition over as soon as he feels ready. I already delivered Sabine and Ezra's new bodies to Kanan and Hera while you were taking Hiro to the store earlier and showed them how to switch the core personality and memory chips over from the access port in the first bodies to the new ones-I figured it would be best if we all did it on the same day, it'll help them all feel a bit more comfortable if they're all doing this and getting used to their new bodies at the same time, y'know?"

"That sounds like an excellent plan," Fred agrees before asking, "So, with tomorrow being such a big day, you think we should head to bed so we'll have some energy to do it all?"

"Sounds good," Tadashi agrees, following his husband to the door and flipping off the lights as they leave. Still, as they head towards their own bedroom, he can't help but feel his eyes being drawn to Hiro's room and Fred says softly,

"You want to go see him one last time like this, don't you?"

"Kind of, yeah…" Tadashi admits, a bit embarrassed that the fanboy had read him so easily, although he shouldn't have been surprised after all these years.

"It's okay," Fred reassures him. "Go do whatever you need to do, okay?"

"Thank you." Tadashi gratefully kisses him before heading to their son's bedroom, gently pushing the door open and stepping inside. He didn't want to wake the little boy by accident, and he was glad that Hiro remained fast asleep as he quietly makes his way over to the bed and sits down on the edge of it. Tentatively he reaches out and strokes the boy's hair-he had so many memories just like this one in this place, and he feels a few tears leaking out of his eyes as he realizes that this would be his very last one.

But then he forces himself to think about the next night-when he'd be tucking Hiro into bed like this, finally in a body that would make him feel like the amazing young man he was growing into, and knowing just how happy Hiro was going to be was enough to pull him out of the hard emotions about leaving the old behind and focus on looking forward to the amazing things the future had in store for them. With a gentle kiss to the top of his son's head, Tadashi allows himself to say his final goodbyes before finally getting up and heading to bed. Like Fred had said-they had a big day tomorrow, and he'd be damned if he wasn't going to be fully awake to share in Hiro's excitement.

"Do you think it's too early to wake him up?"

"Nah, he's had plenty of time to charge. Besides, when he switches over his new body's on full charge, right?"

"That's true…"

"So c'mon!" Fred grins and squeezes his husband's hand. "Let's go get this special day started!"

"Right!" Feeling a bit more confident, Tadashi happily squeezes back before pushing the door to Hiro's room open.

"Good morning!" he says, loud enough to hopefully wake the sleeping boy.

"Papa? Dad?" Hiro's eyes blink open and he starts to sit up, a slightly out-of-it and definitely confused expression on his face. "What's going on? And why are you up so early?"

"Sorry, bud," Tadashi answers, not managing to sound completely sorry, as he sits down on the edge of the bed. "Your dad and I just have some really big news!"

"Big news?" Hiro repeats, seeming marginally more awake. "What's going on?"

"Your papa has a surprise for you," Fred answers, sitting down next to Tadashi on the bed and lovingly ruffling their son's hair. "He's been working on it really hard for a really long time and he thinks it's finally ready for you!"

"A surprise?" Hiro looks hopefully at Tadashi. "Is this the secret project you've been working on?"

"Yep!" Tadashi answers with a grin before gently pulling the boy onto his lap. "Hiro, I know you haven't said anything, but I've noticed recently that you-well, you're not exactly happy being stuck in the body of a kid when you're getting so grown up and mature."

"Papa-" Hiro starts to protest, looking worried that he'd somehow hurt his father's feelings and was going to deny what he was saying if he could.

"No, there's no need to try to tell me that you're happy when you're really not," Tadashi puts in firmly. "You shouldn't be stuck in a body that doesn't fit who you are anymore, and I never want you to feel like you have to hide it when something's bothering you."

"I-I'm sorry, Papa," Hiro apologizes, looking slightly relieved as he nuzzles up against Tadashi.

"You shouldn't be apologizing," Tadashi quickly reassures him. "I should be the one apologizing for not noticing how you were feeling sooner, and I hope you'll forgive me for being so stubbornly blind."

"Of course I forgive you, Papa!" Hiro hurries to reassure him before asking in a quiet, hopeful voice, "So, does this mean… Are you making me a body that will make me look more grown up?"

"Actually," Tadashi answers, fighting a grin at how adorably happy the boy looks, "I kind of already did."

"You did?!" Hiro gasps, eyes going wide.

"Yep!" Tadashi answers, losing his battle to the grin now. "It's finally finished, so whenever you're ready to switch over, all you have to do is say the word and we'll do it!"

"Wow…" Hiro looks too overwhelmed to say anything for a while, just sitting silently in Tadashi's lap for a while before finally asking quietly, "Do you think changing over will hurt?"

"What? No, of course not!" Tadashi reassures him, cuddling him close. "It'll be like… Falling asleep, and when you wake up you'll be safely in your new body. You won't feel a thing, I promise!"

"That's good…" Hiro smiles up at him, still seeming a bit nervous. "Do you think it'll feel weird, getting used to being bigger?"

"Maybe a bit," Tadashi admits. "But hopefully it won't take you too long to get used to it."

"And, if it makes you feel better, most teenagers feel pretty awkward when they hit their growth spurts, so you definitely won't be alone in whatever you're feeling!" Fred adds encouragingly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hiro agrees, seeming a bit relieved to hear that before going quiet again for a moment. "This is… This is what I've wanted for a really long time," he finally admits quietly. "But now I'm kind of scared… I know I shouldn't be, but I still am…"

"Any change is scary," Tadashi answers, soothingly rubbing circles on his back. "It's kind of scary for me and your dad too. But if this is what's going to make you happy, we're going to be with you every step of the way, okay?"

"Okay," Hiro agrees, still seeming a bit nervous but then nodding his resolutely and asks, "How is this going to work?"

"Well, you'll power down fully so we don't risk damaging your chip when we take it out," Tadashi explains. "Then I'll put it into your new body and we'll activate you right away so you can start getting used to it!"

"Okay." Hiro nods again and looks up at him, starting to actually look a bit excited by this now. "When can we do it?"

"As soon as you're ready," Tadashi answers, not wanting to make his son wait a minute longer than he had to for happiness.

"I-I think I'm ready now," Hiro answers with small smile.

"Okay then." Tadashi smiles down at him. "We'll go ahead and do it now."

"We'll be right here when you wake up, buddy," Fred says, hugging the boy one last time before he powered down.

"I know," Hiro answers, hugging him back trustingly before he was transferred back to Tadashi's arms.

"I love you," Tadashi whispers in his ear, again feeling a few last minute tears pricking his eyes as he pulls the boy to his chest. "So much."

"I love you too, Papa," Hiro whispers back, tightly wrapping his arms around him.

"And I'm so proud of you for being so brave right now. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know you won't, Papa."

"Okay… A-Are you ready?"

"I'm ready."

"All right… H-Hiro… I am satisfied with my care."

He holds the boy tightly in his arms until he feels the little body go limp and unresponsive against him. For a sickening moment it almost felt like he was holding a corpse-Hiro hadn't fully powered down since that night when eight years ago when he'd come online to comfort Tadashi from his nightmares and had started them down this road that had taken them through so many twists and turns, and feeling the little body that was always so full of life so empty was terrifying. But then Fred was gently squeezing his shoulder and saying, "C'mon. Let's go wake up our son." And something about that was enough to snap Tadashi out of his dark thoughts and he gratefully smiles at his husband before gently laying Hiro down on the bed to remove his chip from his access port so that they truly could go wake him up.

"What do you think we should do with-?" Tadashi asks when he has the chip in his hands, cradling it close to his chest for fear of somehow damaging it but still managing to gesture to the discarded body that now lay on Hiro's bed.

"I think," Fred says after thinking it over for a moment, "that maybe we should ultimately let Hiro decide what to do with it. But for now…" He carefully wraps a blanket around the tiny form, "let's put it somewhere safe, just until we know that he won't need it again."

"That sounds like a good idea," Tadashi agrees, glad that Fred was willing to take charge on this when he was feeling so emotionally vulnerable.

"I remember that your aunt gave us that cedar chest that we've been keeping in the attic," Fred notes thoughtfully. "That seems like as safe a place as any for now-it'll be protected in there, but it'll also be out of sight, out of mind, y'know?"

"That's perfect," Tadashi agrees with a relieved smile. "Would you be okay with-?"

"Absolutely," Fred reassures him, lovingly pecking his cheek. "I'll take care of it, you go get Hiro to the lab. Just don't wake him up without me, okay?"

"I won't," Tadashi promises, pecking him back, before getting up off of the bed and heading for his workshop. Knowing that everything was being taken care of, he's able to breathe a bit easier, and as he waits for his husband to join him, he holds his son's chip close and looks down at the new body that it would be going into in just a few moments. Now, with the old one metaphorically-if somewhat literally-being buried, he couldn't wait to see Hiro filling this new form with his light and life. It really didn't matter what Hiro looked like, Tadashi's heart finally realizes. He would still be his incredible, amazing son, no matter what. And that was something no one and nothing could ever take away from either of them.

A few minutes later, Fred joins them in the lab, and he eagerly squeezes Tadashi's shoulder as he comes to stand next to him. "You ready for this?"

"I think we all are," Tadashi answers truthfully, giving him a warm grin before opening Hiro's new access port and carefully inserting the chip.

For just one terrifying moment, the engineer couldn't help but worry that he'd somehow done something wrong-that he'd made some grave miscalculation and that this new body was going to reject Hiro's chip and maybe even permanently damage it. But then he heard the soft whirr of the system coming online and, after a few breathless minutes of waiting, he says hesitantly, "Hiro?"

For yet one more heartstopping second, nothing happens. But then Hiro's eyes start to flutter open and Tadashi lets out a half sigh, half sob of relief as he hugs the boy (no, a teen now) close to his chest.

"Papa?" Hiro sounded a bit dazed, but one look into his eyes told Tadashi that the transfer had been successful and that he was going to be okay.

"How are you feeling?" Fred asks gently, obviously as relieved as his husband was by the fact that their son was responding.

"Okay?" Hiro answers, still seeming to be having a bit of trouble focusing but growing more aware with every second.

"Nothing seems to be malfunctioning, does it?" Tadashi asks-he'd run a diagnostic of the body and tested its capabilities with a computer program to make sure that everything was in good working order (he wouldn't allow his son to go into a body that had even the slightest possibility of bugs or glitches), but he wanted to make sure that there wasn't something he'd somehow missed.

"No, I think everything's okay…" Hiro answers, gingerly experimenting moving his arms and legs, wiggling his fingers and toes, before reassuring Tadashi, "It feels good. A little weird 'cause I'm still getting used to it, but mostly really, really good."

"I'm so glad to hear that." Tadashi beams down at him.

"Yeah." Hiro grins back up at him before noting, "Wow, my voice sounds… different. Like, not a bad different! Just-different. Am I imagining that?"

"No," Tadashi admits. "I figured it would be better for your voice to be a little deeper to match your body-is that okay?"

"Yeah it's okay!" Hiro hurries to reassure him. "It's kind of awesome, actually! So, um, when do I get to see what the rest of me looks like?"

"I'll take you to a mirror so you can see," Tadashi answers with a warm chuckle, and both he and Fred help the teen get to his feet. Hiro seems a bit wobbly as he takes his first steps, but both his dads keep him firmly supported as he walks to the bathroom where they had a full-length mirror, and with every step he seems to grow more confident.

"Everything looks so different from up here," the teen marvels as they make their way through the house, taking in his surroundings as if seeing them all for the first time. Then he glares playfully up at Tadashi and adds, "But you just couldn't handle me being as tall as you yet, huh Papa?"

"Be patient," Tadashi chuckles, lightly swatting him. "I was that same height when I was your age, so you can see what it's like being an actual teenager before becoming an adult someday!"

"So, I am going to get an adult body at some point?" Hiro asks hopefully.

"Yes, but one step at a time, buddy," Fred answers, noticing the expression on his husband's face. "Let's at least get you a few years or use out of this new body your papa just made for you, huh?"

"Right, sorry!" Hiro apologizes, flushing slightly-which, yes, was an upgrade Tadashi had given this new body, the ability to blush and produce tears and a few other functions that he felt would make it easier for the teen to be able to express his emotions as he adjusted to this new state of being.

Before the older man can really say anything, though, they reach the bathroom door, and Hiro lets out a quiet gasp as he finally sees his reflection in the mirror. "W-Whoa…"

"Is that a good whoa or a bad whoa?" Tadashi asks a bit nervously. "Because if you don't like it we can totally-"

"Like it? Papa, I love it!" Hiro grins and throws his arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"You do?" Tadashi hugs him back just as tightly, relief flooding his chest.

"Definitely!" Hiro answers, sounding absolutely ecstatic. "It's perfect! T-Thank you… I know how much work you must have put into making this for me…"

"It was all worth it if this makes you happy," Tadashi answers firmly, lovingly running a hand through his son's hair and feeling glad that, thanks to Honey Lemon, it was just as soft, if not softer, than it had been before.

"It does," Hiro reassures him, gratefully nuzzling up against him. "It really, really does…"

"Then my mission was accomplished," Tadashi says gently pecking his forehead.

"Family group hug!" Fred declares, wrapping his arm around the both of them, and Hiro laughs, mildly complaining, "Da-ad!" but not sounding for a moment like he really minded.

"Sorry, kiddo!" Fred answers with a playful grin. "Now that you're officially a teenager, it means that your papa and I have to go out of our way to embarrass you-it's one of the rules of been a teen!"

"No it's not!" Hiro protests.

"Yes it i~is!" Fred sing songs back.

"Papa, please tell me that you're not going to let him do anything to embarrass me!" Hiro begs, turning his puppy eyes on Tadashi and melting his heart completely.

"I'll do my best," the older man reassures him before reaching for his phone as it starts going off. "Oh, that's probably Kanan and Hera! I hope everything's going okay!"

"Kanan and Hera?" Hiro repeats. "Why would they- Wait. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! Did you-? For Ezra and Sabine-?"

"I didn't think it was fair for you to have the fun of aging up without letting Sabine and Ezra do it too," Tadashi answers with a slightly embarrassed smile. "Is that okay with you?"

"Okay? It's awesome!" Hiro replies. "We can do so much cool stuff now that we're all like this!"

"Oh boy, here come the long nights of wondering what kind of mischief our child is up to while he's out at all hours," Fred jokes, and Hiro playfully sticks his tongue out at him before turning back to Tadashi and asking curiously,

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine!" the engineer reassures him. "Sounds like the transfer was successful for both of them and they're both up and moving and doing perfectly fine-no bugs or glitches so far!"

"That's good!" Hiro smiles in relief, obviously glad to know that his friends were okay.

"Oh, looks like Hera just sent a picture!" Fred notes, checking his own phone.

"Let me see!" Hiro eagerly dives for the mobile device.

"Wouldn't you rather it be a surprise when you see them later tonight when they come over for dinner to celebrate?" Fred asks.

"Da-ad!"

"Okay, fine, fine!" Fred surrenders the phone, and Hiro eagerly takes it and looks down at the picture.

Maybe Tadashi was imagining it, but there seemed to be just the slightest dusting of pink across the teen's face as Hiro finally gets out, "W-Wow, Papa… Y-You did a really good job…"

"Thank you," Tadashi answers with a warm smile, and he couldn't help but wryly think that maybe a certain blue haired teen featured in the picture was the cause for his son's rather rosy cheeks. It was far too early to tell, and, even if it was the case, he wasn't going to say anything until Hiro felt comfortable sharing with him, and it was a hurdle that they hopefully wouldn't have to cross for a little while. But when and if they reached that hurdle, they'd cross it together, just like they crossed any obstacle. Because that's what this family did-they took care of each other and helped each other out in any way that they could. That's the way they would always be, and Tadashi couldn't be more grateful to his amazing son who had made all of this possible. And, as the teen grins sheepishly back at him, he could tell that Hiro was just as grateful for him-and the fact that his son thought so highly of him and, beyond that, loved him with all of his heart, was the most amazing feeling in the whole world.


End file.
